6 Jan. 2022 07:50
Since painful means are taboo in the training of police dogs from this year, the police must forego the support of guard dogs, as violence is used in their training. The Berlin police union fears negative consequences for internal security.
A considerable number of the police dogs in the capital are temporarily no longer allowed to be used. The reason is a new provision in the Animal Welfare Dog Ordinance, which came into force for all of Germany at the beginning of the year, as a police spokeswoman said. After that it is forbidden to cause pain to the animals during training.
The training of so-called police protection dogs is done with the use of violence and pain. “You have to hold a criminal even if he hits you,” a police officer told the B.Z., who reported about it on Tuesday. Among other things, the animals are trained with collars that can tighten their air. In Berlin, 49 out of 130 police dogs are initially released from duty.
Detector and search dogs, who can find drugs, explosives or people with their sense of smell, remain in the police force. Since they are trained and managed differently, nothing will change for them, according to the police.
According to the information, protection dogs are used in raids or demonstrations when the police expect aggressive or dangerous situations. The special task forces (SEK) also have such dogs that can pursue suspects or stop attackers.
The new regulation also applies to police protection dogs in other federal states and to the federal police. In law is called is:
“It is forbidden to use spiked collars or other means that are painful for the dogs in the education, upbringing or training of dogs.”
According to scientific knowledge, such methods are not animal welfare compliant, so the reasoning.
The Berlin police are now hoping that the interior and justice ministries at the state and federal level may allow exceptions. According to the police, it is unclear whether it is possible to train or retrain the trained guard dogs in a more animal-welfare-compliant manner. The Berlin police union sees no alternatives, however.
The change in the law has been known for months, but the vice-chairman of the Berlin Police Union (GdP), Stephan Kelm, criticized the new regulation and said that it would have fatal effects on internal security, since police across Germany have not been able to use guard dogs since the beginning of the year. “We are absolutely open to innovative training methods in which pain can be dispensed with,” said Kelm. But there are currently no alternatives.
In Brandenburg, on the other hand, around 70 police dogs, including 50 service dogs, are to remain in action with the usual training methods, as the spokesman for the police headquarters in Potsdam, Torsten Herbst, said on Wednesday Aerial Brandenburg said. In training, however, there is no alternative to “education collars”.
A year ago, a secretly filmed video of police dog training from Saxony caused a sensation, in which it was seen how several police officers blindly hit a police dog with full force, including the head, although the dog apparently had no idea what was to be done. It was heard how the head of training for the Chemnitz police force, despite the brutality that had already been used, even shouted, “ Now hit the cattle! ” And urged the officers he was training to use even more force. Instead of a soft stick that was actually intended, the animal was hit with real whips, which was already done back then forbidden was. First, after the Messages An official examination initiated for the video. The procedure for this was discontinued, however, the Leipzig public prosecutor said at the time that they could not find any criminal offense.
To the video said the trained veterinarian Xenia Katzurke, who even prepares dogs for their use in the service dog team of the Federal Police:
” What you see in the video has nothing to do with well-founded service dog training – that is simply cruelty to animals. ” According to Katzurke, such treatment could only come about in the police dog handler course because there was neither standardized training for Dog handlers still have nationwide uniform examination regulations. ” There is no quality management whatsoever, and the subject of animal welfare does not play a role in the training of the instructor, which can be seen in the catastrophic work of the instructor in charge of the video, ” criticized Katzurke.
Robot dogs are a less cute, but also less sensitive variant. One example was used in the US problematic Bronx district in New York last February.
more on the subject – Police dog from Russia receives prestigious Italian award for four-legged friends
