Policy, procedure ‘improvements’ in effect after police dog bit girl
A Saskatoon police canine team met provincial standards during an incident in which a six-year-old girl was bitten by a police dog — but “improvements to policy and procedure” have still been put in place, according to city police.
A review into the June 11 incident has been completed, police said Tuesday.
In a prepared statement, police said the review proposed “some modification to deployment procedures when using a team” and changes have been implemented that have become part of standardized training for all new and existing members of the canine unit.
“I think we’re always looking for ways of improving our deployment," Deputy Chief Mitch Yuzdepski said in an interview.
“What we had to do was look at the incident ... and follow up with ‘How can we prevent this from happening in the future?’ “
Yuzdepski said members of the canine unit, when faced with a similar incident as the one in June, need to consider multiple factors, including length of leash between handler and dog, the time of day, environment, blind corners, and navigating property in the area.
Autumn Clifford, age six, suffered bites and scratches and required stitches, bandaging, medication and treatment after she was bitten by a Belgian maninois police dog that had been tracking two suspects in a home invasion. Police at the time of the incident said the dog — which was in a harness on a leash — came between two houses around 5 p.m. in the 100 block of Avenue M South while officers were tracking suspects. According to police and witnesses, as the dog came around the corner, it latched onto the girl.
According to police, the dog turned the corner before the handler and the officer heard the child cry, but is not believed to have seen the first contact. Police said the dog “instantly” released her when ordered by its handler. However, a neighbour who saw the incident from her front step said the handler issued multiple commands before the dog let go.
Yuzdepski, who spent around a decade with the canine unit, said there is typically around a 20-foot lead between handler and canine when tracking, but in cases like the incident in June, a 10-foot lead is more common. There needs to be a gap between the dog and its handler going into blind spots, he said, but ensuring a sightline between dog and handler is critical, a fact reinforced by the June incident.
When the changes to policy and procedure are put into writing, “we expect that to be practice,” Yuzdepski said.
The review included assessments of the dog and its handler by an external agency, police said. While the handler returned to duty soon after the incident, the dog only recently returned to active duty, Yuzdepski said.