BUFFALO POLICE HAVE OPENED FIRE
ON 92 DOGS SINCE 2011, KILLING THE VAST MAJORITY OF THEM. IS IT TIME TO START
TRAINING?
Danny Spewak and Megan Blarr ,
WGRZ
Chapter One
Buffalo police have opened fire
on 92 dogs since 2011, killing the vast majority of them.
On June 3, 2013, an unfortunate
but familiar sequence of events unfolded.
The Buffalo Police Department
executed a search warrant at an apartment on Breckenridge Street on the city's
West Side, looking for drugs. Upon entry, officers encountered a dog, described
in this particular incident report as "an aggressive pit bull type."
One officer fired his shotgun three times. The dog died.
Cindy was two years old, not
even fifty pounds heavy. Adam Arroyo, an Iraq War veteran, adopted her when she
was only six months old.
"These animals,"
Arroyo said, "they become like part of your family."
That week, Buffalo Police
Commissioner Daniel Derenda launched an internal investigation into Cindy's
death, following accusations that his officers had accidentally raided the
wrong apartment and should never have confronted Cindy in the first place. The
case received major local media attention— one of the few dog-shooting cases to
make headlines in Western New York.
But these are not uncommon
scenarios. According to use of force reports requested by WGRZ-TV under the
Freedom of Information Law, Buffalo Police shot at 92 dogs from Jan. 1, 2011
through Sept. 2014. Seventy-three of those dogs died. Nineteen survived. In
comparison, Buffalo's numbers more than triple the amount of dog shooting
incidents involving police in Cincinnati, a municipality of similar size. The
New York City Police Department, the nation's largest force, reported killing
half as many dogs as the Buffalo Police Department in its two most recent
annual discharge reports.
"The numbers are what the
numbers are," Buffalo Police Chief of Detectives Dennis Richards said.
"Certainly, no officer takes any satisfaction in having to dispatch a
dog."
During the time period analyzed
by WGRZ-TV, one individual officer shot 26 dogs, killing nearly all of them. In
the years 2011 and 2012 alone, this officer killed as many dogs in the line of
duty as the entire NYPD.
The Buffalo Police Department
does not train specifically for canine encounters, according to Richards, even
though dozens of other police departments across the United States have
recently implemented new training procedures to deal with dogs. Unlike other
departments, officers in Buffalo do not use Tasers, spray or other tools to
contain animals in a non-lethal manner.
"It has not come to that
point in Buffalo," Richards said, "that we've implemented any of
those other techniques."
Chapter Two
Under departmental protocol,
Buffalo Police may legally use their firearms "if the officer or another
person is in the process of being attacked by an animal and is in imminent
danger." In the case of Cindy, police simply noted in their incident
report that the dog was "aggressive," a word which appears dozens of
times in the use of force records.
Many of the 92 shootings in
Buffalo occurred during high-intensity raids and search warrant executions,
which often involve split-second decisions and fast-paced pursuits of armed and
dangerous subjects. In some cases, these criminals train their dogs – usually
pit bulls -- to protect themselves and threaten law enforcement.
Sometimes, a police officer has
no choice but to fire his weapon.
"It's a small percentage
of the number of total search warrants executed or actions taken by
police," Richards said, noting the department responds to about 1,000
calls per day and has already carried out 357 search warrants this year.
Not every call involved a
search warrant. According to a November 2011 incident report, Buffalo Police
responded with a dogcontrol officer to an intersection on the East Side, where
two dogs had apparently killed another dog. When the police arrived, one of
those dogs charged an officer, at which point he fired a fatal shot.
In January 2011, two officers
opened fire on two large black dogs in the back lot of the police station after
they began to "bark and charge." The officers fired one shot each—
both missed. The dogs ran away. And in December 2012, an officer responded to a
call at a residence near Delaware Park, which claimed a man was preparing to
shoot a dog in the yard. When the officer arrived, the pit bull then "started
charging at the officer," prompting the officer to fire a round and kill
the dog.
Buffalo Police have shot an
average of 24 dogs per year since 2011, a pace of one dog roughly every two
weeks. Due to the lack of a national record-keeping system, however, it's
difficult to compare Buffalo's numbers to other municipalities.
Cincinnati Police provided
WGRZ-TV with a copy of its use of force records, which revealed officers had
shot 27 dogs from Jan. 1, 2011 through Sept. 2014.
The New York City Police
Department produces an annual discharge report, publishing its most recent
version in 2012. According to those reports, the NYPD shot 72 dogs in 2011 and
2012, but fewer than 30 percent of those cases (21) resulted in fatalities.
Buffalo Police – which has a fatality rate of 79 percent since 2011 in
officer-involved dog shootings – killed twice as many dogs as the NYPD in that
two-year span.
Of course, for every Cincinnati
and New York City, there are also cities like Milwaukee, where a lawsuit cited
by the Associated Press revealed the police department shot nearly 50 dogs per
year from 2000 to 2008. In Southwest Florida, the News-Press discovered 111
instances of dog shootings among multiple agencies between 2009 and 2012,
representing about 37 per year. According to the Chicago Tribune, Chicago
Police shot approximately 90 dogs per year between 2008 and 2013.
Dr. Randall Lockwood, a senior
vice president for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, has studied police dog shooting incidents in hundreds of
municipalities, dating back more than a decade.
"Your information from
Buffalo, unfortunately, isn't that unusual for some cities, particularly where
there hasn't been training," Lockwood said.
Although it's impossible to
create an official tally of nationwide dog shootings, it's apparent through
social media that these cases occur quite often. Using Facebook, dog owners can
often rally tens of thousands of supporters after police shoot their dogs,
which has helped lead to widespread departmental change in some instances. In
Colorado, for example, a string of officer-involved dog shootings collected
major media attention and, eventually, led to a new state law requiring police
officers to undergo canine training. Illinois passed a similar law last year,
and legislation has surfaced in several other states addressing dog shootings
by law enforcement.
Former police officer Jim
Osorio now trains law enforcement
Former police officer Jim
Osorio now trains law enforcement with live dogs to help prepare them for
canine encounters in the line of duty.
In Cleburne, Texas, the public
has rallied this fall for Justice for Maximus. A police body camera recorded an
officer shooting and killing Maximus the Pit Bull, which spurred an
investigation. In the midst of the public outcry, the department has enlisted
the help of Jim Osorio, a former police officer and one of the nation's most
renowned experts on police canine encounters.
Osorio, author of
"Surviving the Canine Encounter" and an instructor for Canine Encounters
Law Enforcement Training, will teach officers in Cleburne non-lethal methods
for controlling dogs in the line of duty. Using a live dog, he'll show officers
how to read dogs' facial expressions, how to approach dogs and how to use
spray, Tasers, batons or other tools to safely fend off a threat.
Osorio has traveled the country
to implement this same training. He said he's trained countless officers in
places like Ithaca, N.Y., Atlanta, Ga., Texas, Washington, Idaho, Indiana and
California.
"I felt the need that
police officers need better interaction with dogs on the street," Osorio
said, "other than just taking out a gun and shooting them."
Lockwood said it's time for
every department to get on board.
"Unfortunately, it usually
takes a high-profile incident, something that's gone viral, gone public, or a
lawsuit, to really have this taken seriously," Lockwood said. "But
that's changing. We're now seeing police departments who are looking at this
kind of training. Proactively, and pre-emptively, they recognize that it's an
important part of community-oriented policing."
Buffalo has not implemented
this training, according to Chief Richards.
"I don't know if that
would be a recommended course of action. Have you heard of that?" Richards
said. "No, I don't believe I've ever heard of using live animals to
illustrate how an officer should react."
Chapter Three
“The message would be just do
your investigation correctly, realize what you're doing, and maybe have animal
control or some type of non-lethal method to extract these dogs.”
Adam Arroyo was at work when
police raided his apartment last June. He claims he chained Cindy before he
left that morning.
When he returned home that
evening, he discovered bullet holes in his dry wall, not to mention the remnants
of Cindy's chain and toys. But he didn't find Cindy's body. After police killed
her, Animal Control immediately transported her to the animal shelter. From
there, Arroyo cremated her.
According to Arroyo, his
apartment complex has two units in the upper section. He believes police
intended to raid his neighbor's apartment, but instead barged through his door
and shot Cindy.
"We should not get the
wrong apartment. I can't justify getting the wrong apartment,"
Commissioner Derenda told reporters that week in a press conference. "We
are looking into what took place. If something took place that shouldn't have
taken place, then people will be held accountable."
More than a year later, the
Buffalo Police Department declined to provide WGRZ-TV with an update on the
internal investigation. Arroyo has since moved out of his apartment.
"How would they feel if
somebody ran into their house and did that to them?" Arroyo said.
"The message would be, just do your investigation correctly, realize what
you're doing, and maybe have animal control or some type of non-lethal method
to extract these dogs."
Chapter Four
On the early morning of July
29, 2014, Buffalo Police assisted on a raid in West Seneca. Same scenario:
executing a search warrant, digging for drugs.
"I pretty much heard the
two shots," said Ronnie Raiser III, who had just awoken in his bedroom
when the officers entered his home. "After the first shot, I heard the dog
squeal."
Two Buffalo police officers
shot and killed 15-month-old
Two Buffalo police officers
shot and killed 15-month-old Rocky during a raid in West Seneca last summer.
Rocky's owner, Ron, has since filed a complaint against the department.
During the raid, police killed
Raiser's one-year-old pit bull, Rocky. The department's incident report once
again described the dog as "aggressive."
Raiser has filed a formal
complaint with the Buffalo Police Department and the West Seneca Police
Department, alleging excessive force and civil rights violations. In the
complaint, Raiser claims the officers raided the home looking for Ecstasy.
Insead, he said officers only found a small stash of his roommate's marijuana.
"Not only did they not
find any of the items listed in the warrant," the complaint states,
"they shot and killed my 15-month-old dog Rocky."
Raiser plans to eventually file
a notice of claim.
"I bawled my eyes
out," Raiser said. "It's hard. It really is."
According to the use of force
reports obtained by 2 On Your Side, the same police officer involved in the
raid of Raiser's home also shot Arroyo's dog, Cindy, back in 2013. This is also
the same officer who, as previously mentioned, shot 26 dogs in a
three-and-a-half year span, more than any other officer in the department.
Richards explained that some
officers act as the lead for the entry team during raids, which could place
certain individuals in position to encounter aggressive dogs more often than
others.
"It's a very dangerous
job," Richards said, "and per capita, the amount of work that we do,
the amount of search warrants executed, the amount of calls answered by
individual officers, I think the numbers are what the numbers are."
Twenty-five of the 26 dogs shot
by this officer died. In fact, more than three-quarters of the dogs shot by
Buffalo Police died from their wounds. In Cincinnati and New York City, fewer
than half of the dog shootings resulted in death.
Richards said he couldn't
explain the high percentage of fatalities. In Cincinnati, the police
department's policy explicitly directs officers not to take head shots at dogs,
if possible.
Chapter Five
Chief Richards said the Buffalo
Police Department would consider using non-lethal tools to contain dogs, noting
that his department has researched other cities before for feedback.
"We're always willing to
look at other tools available and other technology available and other ways of
doing business," Richards said. "Tasers have come up in the past from
time to time – the use of Tasers – but I think they're still a controversial
topic."
In New York City, written
procedures direct officers to "attempt to prevent an animal attack using
non-lethal options, including batons and OC spray." The ASCPA considers
the NYPD a shining example of a progressive police department as it perains to
animal protocol.
"We have been involved in
training NYPD officers for many years," Lockwood said. "On a per
capita basis, New York is far lower in incidents than that of lot of other
cities."
For Buffalo, the department
will have to live with its own number: 92 dog shootings in three-and-a-half
years. Seventy-three fatalities.
"It's nothing to be happy
about when a dog has to be let go. But, again, we should stress that it's the
owners of those dogs. It's the drug dealer that is putting that dog in harm's
way," Richards said.
On June 3, 2013, the search
warrant of the Breckenridge apartment on the West Side yielded no drugs, Arroyo
said.
"Cindy was the first dog
that was mine… she was actually my dog. First dog ever, and she was a great
dog," Adam Arroyo said. "She was friendly. All the kids in the
neighborhood used to come up and pet her. She wasn't a threat, you know?"
Photojournalists Franco Ardito,
Scott May, Dave Harrington, Dooley O'Rourke, J.T. Messinger and Ben Read
contributed to this report.
