New York Officials Want To End Confinement For Police Dogs
NEW CITY, NY (CBSNewYork) - An effort is underway to remove the handcuffs from police dogs in New York state... figuratively, of course.
WCBS 880's Peter Haskell On The Story
Podcast
Current law calls for the ten-day confinement for any animal that bites a suspect during the course of an arrest, thereby possibly exposes him or her to rabies.
But Clarkstown police Sgt. Harry Baumann feels this is unnecessary.
"They see the vets are a lot more than a regular home residential dog does. So, if there's any problems with a dog, it's been taken care of already," he said.
"These dogs have the best proper health attention brought to them. They have their rabies up to date," said St. Sen. David Carlucci, who says these K9's are important resources and is pushing for the measure. "And now we're just making sure they can do their job, and not put the law enforcement community in jeopardy."
If a dog is quarantined, the department is left shorthanded.
"You're losing the services of a valuable tool that the police department has," said Baumann.
Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski is backing Sen. Carlucci's proposal.
Do you agree with the proposal? Sound off in the comments section below!
