This You Hear About Too Often

Woman allows police to search her house so long as they don't kill her dog -- Police proceed to kill her dog

You might recall the story of the mayor of some town in the Northeast who was visited one night by a SWAT team from the county looking for drugs.   They had the wrong house but before sorting all of that out they killed two of the mayor's dogs. Perhaps that was a better example than this but I seem to find many, too many of cases like this in my random searching of the net.

I recently watched a video where the police were in the process of making an arrest of some guy in his home, his family was there (read that to mean children), there was no fighting or threat but the family dog was barking.  The dog was shot. by the police. 

These are but  some examples, I find these saddening and maddening so watch only if you must see.

(here, here, here, here and here)

I think this callous disregard for common-human decency speaks volumes about where we are as a society and how far our police forces have drifted from peace officers to minions of tyrants. Yes I know that these people are human and there are good folks among them and my generalizations are directed toward the system that has allowed this to become common operating procedure.  I cannot, however, help but ask - why do the good one's not take their clubs and beat the bad ones silly once they get back to the station after something like this occurs?

I spent countless hours in the desert one day searching for one of our dogs.  I see them as my responsibility, one of God's creatures that I am supposed to care for.  I have no doubt that my dog would willingly die defending me or my family - it is inconceivable that a family should have to watch a member of their pack killed by government agents.

If you think this is all sad but ultimately silly, consider this.  The way we treat animals, particularly animals entrusted to us as pets is a direct reflection of our humanity.  If shooting on site a dog in the name of "officer safety" is what we have been reduced to I can guarantee that in time our safety will be further imperiled with each encounter we as citizens have with the police.