Of course I'm on the military side of the house and my dealings are mostly with dogs in combat, but if a K9 is to be labled an officer as alot of departments do and that k9 officer is the partner and backup for the k9 handler, I personally don't see (and I'm sure they find one) what leg anyone has to stand on for not allowing your partner a supposed officer also out of the car with you. Even if he was looked at as equipment with a stock number as in the military, you wouldn't ask an officer to leave valuable tools such as his gun or night stick (if those are even still used) in the car.
Here is another argument that we used in Iraq during random vehicle traffic stops or checkpoints out in the city. Due to the use of barking dogs right in the face of detainees was outlawed, they mentioned that dogs "might" need to be kept in the hummv until needed to prevent the locals from feeling threatned with the dog (sounds an awful lot like yalls delima) My argument to my LTCol was If we pull the occupants out of the car while soldiers check it for weapons, or increminating evidence (IED markers, IE..wires, crimping tools, electrical tape accompaning etc..) if they should run wouldnt' it be better to have the dog immediatly able to react in apprehending them versus us having to get the dog out and now search for them. It's much safer to catch them right there a few feet away, then search for them as they might sit in ambush while we search for them. Not to mention we had 2 options for us on runners when we had the dogs. If they ran we could shoot them, if we had the dog we could apprehend them and bring in a live suspect for interrogation (he's running for a reason) and in Iraq, all the citizens know DO NOT run from the soldiers. So this gives us an alternative to trying to talk to a dead suspect. I know thats not quite the situation you guys have, but possibly the part of why having the dog out and ready in case of a runner would help, not to mention I'd be less likely to run if there is a K9 sitting just a few feet from me, I mean really how far would you get before you got chomped on.
~CHRIS D

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We have an extremely effective road officer who does drug interdiction. So effective he almost single-handedly shut down drug activity in the south end of our city. After about 40 complaints from drug dealers, their families friends and spouses, he was BANNED from all major drug areas of the city.

What the hell is wrong with administrators who do this? Are they too freakin' lazy to do their jobs and so they bow to "public" pressure? Are they burnouts, waiting to retire and don't want to get involved in anything controversial? Transfer these bastards to some admin position, shuffling papers where they can't hurt police work! Few things piss me off as much as a government employee who won't do the job he's getting paid to do.

On my department we had one officer who was a lightning rod for shootings. He was in four of them with three suspects not surviving. All of them were "clean." He's been moved to a detective position and the Chief has vowed that he'll "never see the street again" because he's been involved in "too many" shootings. Here's a guy who has proven that he can react properly to one of the biggest dangers we encounter, armed nut balls who have complete disregard for the lives of others; yet he's relegated to a desk! I understand the legalities of this situation, "Officer isn't it true that you've already killed three men and were trying to add another notch to your gun?" but are we doing the public a service by keeping him off the street? I don't think so.

As to your opening for Chief, I'm not political enough. As many here will attest, I don't think there's a time to keep my mouth shut for political reasons. What's right is right, even if it isn't politically popular.

You know Lou, I think you should take the job. If anyone where to complain, you could type them into submision <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

As to your opening for Chief, I'm not political enough. As many here will attest, I don't think there's a time to keep my mouth shut for political reasons. What's right is right, even if it isn't politically popular.


Exactly what I'm looking for <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

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Exactly what I'm looking for <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Yeah but is it what the "City Fathers" are looking for? LOL.