It is almost inconceivable that Berkeley, a city once regarded as a leader in police accountability practices, would now entertain the idea of expanding the use of attack dogs on its own streets. From community policing initiatives to the deployment of the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, it was once believed that community trust was essential to an effective public safety strategy. But now, it appears that our city is in full retreat, turning its back on decades of efforts to build trust with the community.
Berkeley Police Department Chief Jen Louis and several members of the City Council have launched relentless campaigns to acquire drones, impose mass surveillance, expand the use of chemical weapons, reduce reporting requirements and terminate public access to public safety channels. More than ever, city leadership seems more inclined toward weaponization than collaboration with the community. From our vantage point, there seems to be no coherent approach to public safety in this city other than to uncritically give the police whatever they want and hope for the best.
In an effort to distinguish itself from racist police departments that used attack dogs against demonstrators in the Civil Rights era and in recognition of the considerable harm that police-sponsored maulings can have on a community, Berkeley has, since 1982, prohibited the use of attack dogs except in the most urgent situations. Even then, attack dogs may only be used with approval from the city manager or the police chief if the city manager is not immediately available. Berkeley’s high bar for dispatching attack dogs is not unfounded. The use of police attack dogs is associated with injury to bystanders, racial violence both historically and today and injury to people experiencing behavioral health crises. Simply, Berkeley chose to move forward from a practice the American Civil Liberties Union describes as “brutal and outdated.”
The current resolution before the council proposes to dramatically reduce prior restrictions on the deployment of K-9 units. In doing so, Louis will make it easier for officers to use dogs, and we will likely see officers use dogs more frequently.
Previously, four criteria had to be met before a request for K-9s was approved. Now, only one of these conditions needs to be met to justify deployment.
Under the new proposal, BPD could directly request and deploy K-9 teams “if the suspect is wanted in connection with a residential burglary.” Are we really willing to risk serious injury to a person (and unknown bystanders) over a suspected burglary, a crime that doesn’t even necessarily involve a weapon?
Furthermore, instead of requiring advance approval from the city manager, BPD would only have to inform them of the request after the fact.
While I appreciate that the chief recommends against the use of dogs for crowd control, other questions remain: What recent events justify this change? Does BPD have plans to acquire K-9 units? What will BPD do to prevent existing racial disparities from being replicated in their use of K-9s? Will BPD bring dogs to public events for uses other than “crowd control”?
Most of all, why are the recommendations of the Police Accountability Board being ignored yet again?
As published in The Berkeley Scanner on June 29, Neil Egbert, president of the Berkeley Police Association, noted the difficulties in retaining officers due to a lack of special assignments. It is no coincidence that the expanded K-9 unit is proposed without justification to the public, but unmistakably addresses Egbert’s complaint for “career opportunities.”
To be clear, I have no objection to the use of dogs to locate missing persons or to detect explosives. But let’s be honest — those dogs are trained completely differently from dogs used to apprehend suspects. I strongly object to the use of attack dogs and hope that you will recommend a prohibition on their use in upcoming policy discussions and at your Tuesday meeting (Item 23a).
Andrea Prichett is a founding member of Berkeley Copwatch and a former police review commissioner. Roberto Rodriguez is a Berkeley resident and Berkeley Copwatch member.