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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Four months after an officer killed a dog during a search for a missing child, Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder has announced a program to train all Unified police on how to avoid deadly confrontations with dogs.
Winder announced the new policy Sunday at a joint press conference with the Utah Humane Society. The group says the move is a step in the right direction after a 110-pound dog was killed in June in Salt Lake City, triggering outrage from the dog's owner and his supporters.
Winder acknowledged that handling of dogs and pets is different today than it was two decades ago, the Deseret News reports (http://bit.ly/1Ces7f3 ).
"In our culture today people view their animals in a different light," said Winder, who is up for re-election in November.
Police searching for a missing child encountered the dog named Geist in a backyard, and the animal was shot and killed.
A civilian review board ruled in August that the officer was justified in the shooting, but the dog's owner and his supporters have remained critical of the department.
Winder said this new policy doesn't acknowledge any culpability in the dog's death. He said the new program was prompted rather by several unfortunate incidents.
Winder said he hopes the shooting can result in positive developments in that officers receive additional training and learn other options may be available other than deadly force.
"The only policy we have is our use of force policy and the use of firearms," he said.
The training is set to begin in January and will use both video and police dogs. Winder hopes it will help officers be more prepared to handle interactions with dogs and other pets.
The man trying to unseat Winder in the upcoming November election, Unified Police Lt. Jake Petersen, said the sheriff's new program doesn't address the larger, root problem in law enforcement today.
"There is a problem of use of force," said Petersen in his own news conference held after Winder's. "What it boils down to is that there is a growing sense of mistrust and fear between the police and the public."
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