By CODE 4 K9 | SWAT/K9 Integration & Advanced Police K9 Training

This video involves the Kern County Sheriff’s Department. KCSD received a call reference a stolen vehicle, which they were able to track via an anti-theft location device. It appears that patrol and two K9 handlers arrive on the scene, and the second handler grabs his dog to assist with the high-risk stop. The vehicle closest to the male suspect is a K9 car and has a non-deployed dog in the back seat/cage.

The patrol/cover officer starts to yell at the suspect, who is on the ground, that if he didn’t comply, he would be bitten by the fucking dog. Listen, words matter. No one needs a hothead on scene, amping things up. It’s unprofessional, period. Also, the handler should’ve been the one to give commands if he’s the one who might use force. It’s common practice to do that, plus the stim is coming from you vs another deputy, which may shift the dog’s focus to the cover officer.

A patrol deputy arrives and does what many cops do; they start opening the doors of other patrol cars to secure a suspect or use them as cover. The dog pops out, sees the male subject on the ground, and proceeds to bite him. This is about the time you wish (as a handler) that you had locked your patrol car after getting out of it. As a handler, you should get into the habit of always locking your patrol car, whether your dog is in it or not. You want to create good muscle memory.

The dog is not at fault in this situation. It’s the handler’s fault for leaving the car unlocked, the deputy’s fault for not realizing it was a K9 car, which should be clearly marked, and there may be a possible training issue. If you train your dog to self-deploy when the door pops without you calling them to you, this is what you’re going to get. There’s a give/take with this type of training/scenario. On one hand, you want your dog to pop out of the car when you pop the door remotely if you’re in a fight, but also want to have enough control in your dog that they don’t self-deploy and bite someone without being commanded to. No one should be shocked that the dog bit the suspect. You have to trust a dog to be a dog. Don’t overlook the deputy shouting profanity about getting bitten by a dog. For a dog, that’s cuing a specific behavior. So when the door pops, he thinks he’s going in for the bite.

In the end, these kinds of mistakes happen. As a handler, you will need to anticipate some of these issues and take appropriate measures to reduce liability. This incident is a straightforward payout. No law enforcement agency should be disputing that they are at fault. Remember, get in the habit of ALWAYS LOCKING YOUR PATROL CAR WHETHER YOUR DOG IS IN IT OR NOT.