St. Paul police told to improve police dog handling
An audit released Friday recommends that the St. Paul Police Department modernize its K-9 program.
The review, conducted by former St. Paul Police Chief Bill Finney, comes after police dogs unintentionally bit several bystanders in recent years, including Desiree Collins, who was taking out her trash, and Glenn Slaughter, who was walking by the scene of a suspect search.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Police Chief Todd Axtell requested the audit following the attack on Slaughter in July 2018. They also restricted the use of police dogs to situations involving clear and immediate danger.
Among other things, Finney recommends in the 17-page report that those restrictions be amended because they do not allow the K-9 unit "to fully meet its mission."
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The former chief also says that K-9 training should better emphasize citizen safety and dog deployments should follow a checklist to ensure reasonable force is used. He also recommends that training "should always emphasize the canine's primary purpose as a locating tool."
St. Paul police spokesperson Sgt. Mike Ernster said the audit gives the department a blueprint for improvement.
"We don't want anybody being bitten by a police canine who is not the target of that search," Ernster said.
Attorney Bob Bennett won settlements for both Collins and Slaughter as well as Frank Baker, who was mauled in 2016.
Bennett says the audit falls short because it does not address the need for tighter control of police dogs.
"If they get human odor, they're going to bite whoever they see, whether it's the person they want them to bite or some other person who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," Bennett said. "They've been ignoring that fact in St. Paul."