How The Police Use Dogs

Police forces around the world have made extensive use of dogs for hundreds of years. With their enduring utility, it is hard to imagine the police dog as a capability which could ever become obsolete. Broadly speaking, police dogs have two functions which occasionally overlap: protection and detection. In the US police dogs will often be able to offer both capabilities whereas in the UK they are usually separated. Protection work hinges on a police dog’s ability to bite a suspect, as well as its resulting deterrence. While sometimes incorrectly viewed as an escalation of force, deploying bite-trained police dogs