Trooper dogs off duty indefinitely

The N.C. Highway Patrol has pulled its 10 police dogs off duty indefinitely after several troopers testified in a personnel hearing this week to several rough training methods that involved shocking, kicking and suspending the dogs.

Patrol spokesman Lt. Everett Clendenin said that Bryan Beatty, the N.C. Crime Control and Public Safety secretary who oversees the patrol, ordered the suspension so that a review can be conducted of training techniques, Dan Kane reports.

"We can't run the risk of one of our dogs being injured or somebody in the public being injured because of the training," Clendenin said. "We're not sure what's taking place, so that's what we are going to do."

Over the course of three days of hearings into the firing of Sgt. Charles Jones, who is trying to win his job back, troopers in the canine program have said that dogs have been shocked with a stun gun, kicked, and suspended until they are nearly unconscious.

They also have acknowledged throwing plastic bottles filled with stones at the dogs and twirling them around in a technique known as "helicoptering," sometimes releasing them in midair.

More after the jump.

—————

Clendenin said that Beatty and other patrol leaders were unaware of many of the techniques. He said patrol officials are adamant that no trooper has done what Jones admitted to — kicking his police dog Ricoh several times while he was suspended from a loading dock railing — nor have troopers been trained to do it.

The Jones case has exposed a murky area of police training. Troopers have testified that there is very little in writing as far as training procedures, in part because of feared outrage if they ever became public. They said Jones' actions were not abusive, though some said characterized the discipline as "excessive" in written statements.

They said the rough training techniques are necessary because the dogs need to learn to obey orders to protect the officers and the public. The dogs are considered lethal weapons.

The only known written directive regarding dog training, according to testimony at the hearing, was the banning of special shock collars three years ago.

A memo delivered to patrol Commander Fletcher Clay as part of the Jones case acknowledged several rough techniques but also added that striking or kicking dogs should be a last resort because of the risk of injury to the dog.

Clendenin said that patrol Major Jamie Hatcher, director of special operations, will conduct the review. It is the second called for after the patrol ordered a review last fall in the wake of Jones' firing.

Clendenin did not know how long the dogs would remain out of service. He said they are mostly used to sniff out drugs at traffic stops, and the patrol would use other techniques to ferret out such activity. He said the 10 canine handlers will assume other duties while the review is underway.