After an uproar over rough training methods, the patrol will switch to Labradors used solely for drug searches
By Dan Kane
News & Observer
RALEIGH, N.C. — The State Highway Patrol said Monday that it will use dogs solely to sniff out narcotics, and avoid rough training tactics such as the swinging, suspending and kicking of patrol dogs that caused a national outcry.
The patrol plans to acquire six Labrador retrievers, which are known for being passive, obedient dogs with good noses for narcotics. The dogs will be paired with newly trained officers who were not part of the previous canine unit. The new unit should be up and running by mid 2009.
“This is rebuilding the unit from the ground up,” said Capt. Everett Clendenin, a patrol spokesman.
The patrol suspended the canine unit in April after several troopers testified in a personnel hearing that the dogs had been subjected to disciplinary tactics such as swinging them around by their leads, suspending them until they nearly passed out, shocking them with stun guns and throwing plastic bottles filled with pebbles at them. The troopers defended Sgt. Charles L. Jones, who was fired last year for kicking his police dog, Ricoh, several times after suspending him so that his hind legs barely touched the ground.
The patrol said that the new program will not use dogs to track down suspects or defend their handlers. As a result, the patrol does not need aggressive dogs such as Belgian Malinois or German shepherds, nor does it need to use strict disciplinary measures so the dogs will obey, Clendenin said.
“Our dogs are going to strictly be sniffing and searching for narcotics,” he said.
He said the unit will adopt the practices of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Canine Program. The new training procedures, Clendenin said, will specifically prohibit punching, kicking, beating and choking of dogs.
“We’re not going to tolerate that kind of behavior and we don’t think it’s going to be a problem again,” Clendenin said.
Sgt. Charles R. Joyner, 39, will be the training coordinator. He was a former dog handler for the Division of Motor Vehicles and joined the patrol in 2005. He has completed the U.S. Customs’ training, Clendenin said. The unit will spend its first year occasionally working with the Virginia State Police’s canine unit to make sure troopers are learning proper procedures.
Hope Hancock, executive director of the SPCA of Wake County, said she supports the changes. She said she wants to make sure the patrol’s training provides no wiggle room for abusive tactics.
“On behalf of the SPCA, I think this is a very good measure towards a much better program,” Hancock said.
Hancock said the Jones case shows that state lawmakers need to redefine animal abuse statutes. A state administrative law judge and the State Personnel Commission have found that Jones should be reinstated, in part because the evidence indicated he was doing as he was taught. The patrol has appealed those decisions.
“There’s a loophole that says if you are training a dog, then the cruelty and the mistreatment is defined differently,” Hancock said. “This is the perfect time to look at the statutes to tighten them up.”
Copyright 2008 News & Observer