Buffalo Police Department Has A Track Record Of Shooting 92 Dogs In Three Years

There have been many cases of police brutality, but this police department seems to have a special knack for gunning down dogs. The Buffalo Police Department is particularly infamous for shooting over 90 dogs in the last three years.

Alarmingly, ‘Police Kill Dog’ is certainly not an uncommon segment of headlines across the nation. In fact, many online media outlets have a dedicated segment that regularly chronicles such barbaric acts by the police against dogs. Disturbed by the rising trend, WGRZ-TV decided to investigate the same, and using the Freedom of Information Act, they managed to uncover some really horrifying statistics. The news station requested information about the Buffalo Police Department, more particularly about the use of force against animals.

The report the news agency received revealed that the Buffalo PD alone shot 92 dogs from Jan. 1, 2011 through Sept. 2014. The shootings had alarmingly high mortality rate as seventy-three of those dogs died, while nineteen somehow survived, reported Opposing Views. In comparison to Cincinnati, a municipality of similar size, Buffalo’s numbers were more than three times.

Disturbingly, all Buffalo Police Chief of Detectives Dennis Richards had to say about the animal cruelty was,

“The numbers are what the numbers are. “Certainly, no officer takes any satisfaction in having to dispatch a dog.”

Perhaps, he might have been wrong about the second sentence because detailed analysis of the report revealed that nearly 30 percent of these dog shootings in Buffalo were carried out by just one man. The man, whose identity hasn’t been revealed, shot 26 dogs, killing 25 of them in the last three years.

On the other hand, if one looks at the 2012 Annual Discharge Report filed by the New York City Police Department, it will become clear as to why the Buffalo PD is relatively barbaric when it comes to canines. According to the report, the NYPD shot 72 dogs in 2011 and 2012, but fewer than 30 percent of those cases (21) resulted in fatalities.

In its defense, the Buffalo PD revealed that ‘many’ of the dogs were shot out of necessity during execution of what is commonly referred to as ‘No-Knock’ warrants. Moreover, the Buffalo police said most of the warrants were for people who were making, trading or consuming narcotics.

Obviously attempting to downplay the numbers, Richards said,

“It’s a small percentage of the number of total search warrants executed or actions taken by police. The department has carried out 357 search warrant raids this year, most of which are in the relentless pursuit of the state’s immoral war on drugs.”

There have been numerous cases of police fatally shooting dogs. But perhaps the Buffalo PD may have to develop alternate ways to tackle the dogs without gunning them down. Some of these canines may even help the police.

[Image Via thefreethoughtproject.com]