Reporting, Data and Review for Police Service Dogs

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Definitions

Bite:  A police dog’s use of mouth and teeth to grab or hold a person’s body or clothes.

Deployment: A police dog performing an operational task.

Director:  The Director of Policing and Law Enforcement Services referred to in section 39 (1) of the Police Act.

Handler-Dog Team:  A police officer who is trained to handle police dogs and the police dog assigned to that officer.

Police Dog Handler:  A police officer who is trained to handle police dogs.

Use-of-Force Report:  The information that must be provided, in a provincially-approved format, when an officer applies force against a person.

Standards

Post-bite reporting requirements

The Chief Constable, Chief Officer, or Commissioner must:

(1) Ensure, in every case of a police dog Bite, that:

(a) The Police Dog Handler completes a Use-of-Force Report, if the Bite was on a person who was a subject in the police incident, even if the Bite was accidental;
(b) The Police Dog Handler completes a detailed written report, if the Bite was on person who was not a subject in the police incident;
(c) Any report referred to in Standard (1)(a) and (1)(b) above is completed as soon as reasonably practicable after the Bite occurred; and
(d) Any report referred to in Standard (1)(a) and (1)(b) above includes:

(i) The description of the incident;
(ii) The rational for deploying the police dog;
(iii) Whether a warning was given;
(iv) The location of the Bite(s);
(v) Detailed description of any injuries;
(vi) Photos of the injuries, unless the person who was bitten refused to have the injuries photographed;
(vii) Whether the police dog was commanded to Bite; and
(viii) Whether the police dog was always within the Police Dog Handlers visual contact.

Data

The Chief Constable, Chief Officer, or Commissioner must:

(2) Ensure that the following data is maintained, in a form and manner approved by the Director, both for each Handler-Dog Team and for the police dog unit as a whole:

(a) The numbers of persons located or found or apprehended or arrested using a police dog;
(b) The number of persons, who were subjects at a police incident, who were bitten by a police dog, including accidental Bites;
(c) The number of persons, who were not subjects at a police incident, who were bitten by a police dog, including accidental Bites; and
(d) The number of deployments for each type of authorized use of a police dog listed in Standard (1) of the BCPPS 1.4.1 General Requirements.

(3) Provide all reports and data annually, or more frequently as requested, to the Director.

Review

The Chief Constable, Chief Officer, or Commissioner must:

(4) Ensure that a supervisor monitors the training and operational activities of Handler-Dog Teams, and the reports and data of each Handler-Dog Team, and the dog unit overall, in order to determine compliance with the BC Provincial Policing Standards and the police service’s policies and procedures, and to identify potential training issues.

(5) Ensure a supervisor conducts a documented review of every Bite, including the circumstances leading up to the Bite and actions taken after the bite, to ascertain whether the actions taken in relation to the Bite conform with BC Provincial Policing Standards, as well as the police service’s policies and procedures.

(6) Ensure that a supervisor is authorized to and takes appropriate action to address any non-compliance or deficiencies in training identified by the activities in Standards (4) and (5) above.

Policies and procedures

The Chief Constable, Chief Officer, or Commissioner must ensure that:

(7) All policies and procedures are consistent with these BC Provincial Policing Standards.

Annotations

Bite definition: this does not include bites in training on training equipment, such as a padded sleeve or suit.

Deployment definition: having a police dog present at an incident in case a dog may be needed, but where the dog does not perform an operational task, is not considered to be a deployment of a police dog.

Bite reports: these are to be completed as soon as reasonably practicable. In normal circumstances this would be within 48 hours of the bite. In exceptional circumstances, such as an in-custody death incident, a longer time period may be appropriate. Extensions are to be approved by the Chief Constable, Chief Officer, or Commissioner.