Police perpetrated puppycide (PPP) is a significant problem in the United States. The problem is so widespread that the term puppycide was coined to describe it:
Stories like Smith’s happen all the time. They’re so common that they’ve become known by the grim moniker puppycide. There’s a whole category on Reason’s website for such events, a 16,000-person-strong Facebook group that tracks local media reports of them, and even a database that attempts to collect information on dog shootings nationwide. But no one knows how many dogs are in fact killed by police every year.
A Justice Department official speculated in a 2012 interview with Police magazine that the number could be as high as 10,000 a year, calling it “an epidemic.”
Why are so many dogs being killed by police? Many of these incidents involve dogs that were leashed or kenneled, which leads one to think that many law enforcers simply enjoy killing dogs. The usual schtick we’re fed when these PPPs occur is the time honored “officer safety.” Officer safety are two magical words that when combined are supposed to absolve an officer of any excessive use of force.
At some point people need to ask why the magical words “officer safety” needs to be thrown around so often, especially when we consider the fact that being a police officer isn’t all that dangerous.
Many of these incidents involve dogs that were leashed or kenneled, which leads one to think that many law enforcers simply enjoy killing dogs.
That’s possible. I tend to adopt the more charitable (?) conclusion that cops are just complete and total cowards. They’d shoot at their own shadow if it suddenly jumped out at them, or they fantasized it did.
… being a police officer isn’t all that dangerous.
That appears to be in the process of changing. I hate the institution of American policing with a passion, but I’m against shooting random cops: it’s not just and will only fuel opposition to reform. On the other hand, a cop pointlessly exhibiting a deadly threat to innocents, is another matter. Self-defense against a deadly threat is an inborn right and should be exercised whenever appropriate. If that makes the number of cops shot go up, so be it.