* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: Councilmember Conaway
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Police Actions - Treatment of Dogs
FOR the purpose of requesting the Baltimore Police Commissioner to report to the City Council on the treatment of dogs during police response to citizens’ calls for assistance, service of arrests warrants, or the execution of raids for drug-related and other criminal activities.
body
Recitals
In July 2008, police mistakenly raided the home of the Mayor of Berwyn Heights, a small town in Prince Georges County. The raid, a result of a botched distribution scheme the Mayor had no connection to, made headlines around the world, not only because the victim was a sitting Mayor, but because police killed the Mayor’s two pet Labradors. One dog was shot four times, the other twice, once from behind as the dog fled.
Media reports of the incident included quotes from the police that what had been done was “standard operating procedure”. The public was made aware that the shooting of dogs by police has become disturbingly common across the country. Dogs in a Deadly Crossfire, The Daily Beast, July 19, 2009, reports that officials of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals sees 250 to 300 incidents per year in media reports and estimates another 1,000 aren’t reported.
SWAT Gone Wild in Maryland, Reasononline, July 13, 2009, reports that in November 2007, Prince...
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