I believe the full report uses the language "epidemic" of dog shootings by police, and highlights that it's hard to estimate accurately because many departments don't consider it something they even need to report.
That's how little of a shit they give about shooting your dog.
To be fair, the literal same is true of cops killing people. Not a stat legally required to be recorded in many states. Which is fucking insane.
Edit: posted below, only California and Texas have to report fatal use of force.
In my country, police have to account for every round fired if they deploy their weapons.
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Same in Sweden, where not only do they have to account for every bullet, they also have to account for when the boot of the car (which holds all the weapons) is ever opened
Even in the fascist utopia of Watchmen with masked cops, they still required permission to access a firearm. US police are more insane than dystopian fiction.
I'm pretty sure that's still the case in the US as well. The Wire mentions it as a fact.
"Not a stat legally required to be recorded in many states" makes it sound like it would get mentioned in reports of gun firings, but they wouldn't then have to collate that information, come up with a total or publish or store the stat somewhere.
Just a quick search, knew it was California, couldn’t remember if Texas did or did not. The answer is they are supposed to but suck at it. So… 2/50 require reporting when a cop kills someone.
https://scholars.unh.edu/unh_lr/vol17/iss1/18/
The Department of Justice estimates that American police officers shoot 10,000 pet dogs in the line of duty each year. It is impossible to ascertain a reliable number, however, because most law enforcement agencies do not maintain accurate records of animal killings. The tally may be substantially higher, and some suggest it could reach six figures.
Yeah the cops came to our house one time for something some kid did it wasn't even related to us. My dog comes out and the cop says, if you don't take control of your dog I'm going to shoot him. That was a mellowest dog I ever had, if you said boo it would hide under the bed. What a dick head.
There was a great video from a lawyer (can't remember it was from a few years ago) that showed how to open the door for a police officer.
You step outside, close the door, and converse with them on your porch.
Its fucking stupid we have to do these little ass rules to avoid getting murdered on our own property. But apparently it's "threatening behavior" to remind police officers that the castle doctrine applies to them as well.
Cops don't need to execute people's pets. They have bullet proof vests with steel chest plates, riot shield and metal clubs, tazers that pump 10,000 volts into 'suspects'. The list goes on and on. But people need to train their fucking dogs. Half of them might as well work for the police.