Tulsa Oklahoma Police, Stop Shooting Our Dogs! 2 Pit Bulls Shot In One Day, URGENT CALL TO ACTION!

By Sloane Quealy-Miner

Ruby

On September 11, 2014 the streets of Tulsa, Oklahoma ran red with the blood of two innocent pit bulls thanks to two trigger happy Tulsa Police Officers named  Adam Lovell and Roy Owens Jr.

Officer Roy Owens Jr., Badge 01591, shot Lana Ellsbury’s pit bull Ruby three times in her own yard while answering an alarm call at their next door neighbor’s property. The officer was in the Ellsbury’s yard while Ruby was being let out. In a matter of seconds Ruby’s owner’s mom Janet Ellsbury heard shots. When she ran out of the house she saw Officer Owens standing there. Shockingly, Officer Owens didn’t have anything to say after firing three shots into pit bull Ruby, except to tell Janet that she ran away. After the shooting he simply walked back to his patrol car and drove off.

Immediately the family began to search for Ruby who was ultimately found ten miles away. She had been shot three times. She was shot once in the shoulder, once in the hip and once in the face resulting in a portion of her jaw being shattered. Ruby has undergone surgery and currently in excruciating pain and while she will recover she has suffered immensely.

Ruby and her family

When Lana Ellsbury (Ruby’s owner) called the police department demanding to know why Officer Roy Owens Jr. shot her dog and just left, the police made the statementthat the officer was in fear for his life, and was justified in his shooting. If Officer Owens was in such fear for his life then why did he let the dog, that he was so afraid, run off without trying to locate her? If we are expected to believe he viewed her as a public threat and dangerous, then Officer Owens had the obligation to keep the public safe and locate her immediately.

Lana told me that when she asked for the official police report they refused to give it to her. Since then she has filed for a copy under the Freedom of Information Act but has not received it yet.

A few hours later off-duty Officer Adam Lovell shot and killed friendly pit bull Titus with his own personal firearm. As Titus lay in the grass, crying and writhing in pain Officer Adam Lovell bent down, aimed, and shot Titus it in the head while neighbors watched in shock. Please read the full story HERE

We cannot continue to allow cops to injure and kill innocent animals and put the lives of innocent people in danger. We must speak up regarding this clear abuse of power by police officers like Roy Ownes Jr. and Adam Lovell who are supposed to serve and protect, not terrorize and needlessly kill the innocent!

URGENT CALL TO ACTION! Contact the below officials and demand that all officers be given proper training when it comes to handling animals they encounter safely and without the use of guns and or deadly force. Demand that proper investigations be conducted into these shootings and actions taken against both these officers.

EMAIL Chief of Police Chuck Gordon TPDChief@cityoftulsa.org

FACEBOOK MESSAGE Tulsa, Oklahoma Police Department HERE

EMAIL City Council Members
dist2@tulsacouncil.org;dist1@tulsacouncil.org;dist3@tulsacouncil.org;dist4@tulsacouncil.org;
dist5@tulsacouncil.org;dist6@tulsacouncil.org; dist7@tulsacouncil.org;dist8@tulsacouncil.org;dist9@tulsacouncil.org

EMAIL Mayor Dewey Bartlett HERE

CALL Police Chief Chuck Gordon (918) 596-9326
CALL Mayor Dewey Bartlett (918) 596-2100 CALL:
CALL City Council Action Hotline (918) 596-1990
CALL Internal Affairs 918) 596-9379

Oklahoma Alliance For Animals stepped up to pay for Ruby’s costly surgery. If you would like to thank them or make a donation please click HERE

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Posted: Saturday, September 13, 2014 12:00 am

By COREY JONES World Staff Writer | 65 comments

An off-duty Tulsa police officer shot and killed a pit bull late Thursday afternoon after it approached his dog and he felt threatened, a police official said.

The incident unfolded around 5 p.m. in the 6900 block of East 18th Street. Sgt. Jeff Davis said the officer was walking his own dog while he was off-duty when a pit bull that was loose approached his pet.

The officer felt threatened, so he shot the dog, killing it, Davis said.

"It’s an unfortunate thing," Davis said, adding that the officers who responded to the call were upset to learn of the dog's death.

On Friday, Tulsa Police Department spokesman Leland Ashley said the incident will be treated the same as a citizen shooting an animal when threatened.

The officer, Ashley said, used his personal firearm, not a police-issued weapon.

One of the pit bull's owners, Nicholas Blazek, posted a photo of a ticket on Facebook that showed he had been cited for having a dog at large. The citation noted that the pet wasn't confined to the owner's property.

Blazek said in a post on the social media site that his 5-year-old pit bull, Titus, posed no threat.

Davis said the dog's owners intend to file an Internal Affairs complaint.

Davis said it is his understanding that the owners didn't see what happened but that several neighbors did. Police took statements from all of them, and the investigation remains open, he said.

Blazek wrote on Facebook that his dog was sniffing the off-duty officer's dog when the officer pulled the trigger.

"Once he was on the ground crying he shot two more times," Blazek posted.

Sarah Slane, who is listed on Facebook as being in a relationship with Blazek, wrote on Facebook that the officer had "no reason" to shoot Titus. She said the neighbors are "all on our side."

Attempts to reach the owners late Thursday weren't immediately successful.

The owners have the option of paying the preset fine of $75 for the violation or having their day in municipal court, Davis said.

Davis, who declined to release the name of the officer, said he won't be placed on administrative leave because he was off-duty and the shooting didn't involve a person.

Corey Jones 918-581-8359

corey.jones@tulsaworld.com

A California police officer is recovering after accidentally shooting himself

 Home  »  Dogs & Laws & Front Page News  »  California Officer Shoots Himself Trying to Kill Pit Bull

California Officer Shoots Himself Trying to Kill Pit Bull

 Brandy Arnold  04/21/2014  Dogs & Laws, Front Page News  56 Comments

A California police officer is recovering after accidentally shooting himself in the leg while trying to fire his gun at a pit bull that he says was threatening his life. But, when a local television station arrived on scene, they found a much smaller dog than described, peacefully playing with children.

The officer was serving an eviction notice around 2:00pm last Wednesday when he says a “large dog came at him aggressively.”

However, the dog’s owner and this NBC4 News video tell a different story…

The officer was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries as a result of shooting himself. The dog was not shot or harmed. Animal Control Services did not take the dog, named Precious, into custody as it was determined that neither she or her owner did anything wrong.

129 dogs killed so far this year by law enforcement

According to the National Canine Research Institute 129 dogs killed so far this year by law enforcement. The statistics show 103 killed innocently. 71 were Bully Breeds. 23 were small breeds! This is not acceptable. We can all complain and what not but until we use our voice, it's going to continue. Educate people! Don't be afraid! Do it for the dog who you love! They have no voice! Stand up and make a difference today!

We all must act responsible. Keep your pets safe by ensuring that they are under control in the event the police visit such as in your yard, a room in your home, a notice on your door indicating you have pets. Protect them! They can't protect themselves.

Cops investigate themselves and get all clear no charges laid???

Canberra police officer who sprayed capsicum spray towards chained dog breached standards

Michael Inman September 17, 2014

A screenshot from the security vision at the property.Photo: Supplied

An ACT police officer who fired capsicum spray towards a tethered dog during a raid at a southside home will not face criminal charges, but has been ordered to undergo formal counselling and retraining.

The owner of the dog only found out about the reprimand after ACT Policing issued a press release late on Wednesday afternoon, prompting allegations police were more interested in repairing their damaged image than safeguarding the dog's welfare.

Police on Wednesday said an internal investigation into the May incident had found the officer had breached professional standards.

The report would not be made public.

Chief Police Officer for the ACT Rudi Lammers said the force would also seek RSPCA co-operation to provide extra training for police in dealing with animals in the course of their duty.

It also showed a plain clothes AFP officer barking at the dog. 

The officer then shot a burst of oleoresin capsicum spray directly at the stationary animal and it quickly retreated out of sight.

Minutes later, three AFP officers could be seen apparently laughing, with one recording on his mobile phone.

The officer who used the spray later threw a stick in the direction of the animal and left.

When the footage emerged, ACT Policing shifted the male officer into a desk job andlaunched internal investigation through AFP Professional Standards.

In a press release, Assistant Commissioner Lammers said the complaint had been the subject of an extensive investigation by professional standards, which confirmed a breach.

But he said no criminal charges would be laid against the officer because there had been no evidence the dog had been injured by the spray.

"I am well aware of the significant feedback and concerns expressed about this matter and wish to reassure the ACT community that the AFP takes allegations of misconduct by its members very seriously and does not tolerate misbehaviour," he said.

"In addition, ACT Policing does not condone or tolerate cruelty to animals in any form and the outcomes of this investigation further reinforce this."

The dog's owner, Justen Storay, and his lawyers, Ben Aulich and Associates, said the only information they received from the police on the matter had been a letter confirming the complaint had been "established" by an investigation.

"No further details were provided," lawyer Peter Woodhouse said.

Mr Woodhouse said he had written to police to find out what action would be taken against the officers involved. 

The police press release, containing those details, was then subsequently published.

"The fact that Mr Storay had to find out the detailed outcome of the investigation via a press release is shameful," Mr Woodhouse said.

"It appears the AFP are more interested in trying to repair the damage this matter caused to their image."

Mr Woodhouse said the order to undergo counselling and retraining was an insufficient reaction to what took place.

"We had hoped to AFP would take this matter more seriously than they seem to.

"Cruelty or violence towards animals is to be strongly condemned and should not be tolerated, especially by those in a position if authority and trust."

Mr Woodhouse also called on the AFP to make public the report.

" What have the AFP got to hide?" he said.

RSPCA ACT chief executive officer Tammy Ven Dange said the welfare of the animal was always the most important aspect in incidents.

CCTV footage revealed on The Canberra Times showed a plain-clothes Australian Federal Police officer spraying towards a chained dog during a search of an unoccupied Griffith house in May.

Half of intentional shootings by police involve dogs, study says

Half of intentional shootings by police involve dogs, study says

Dog shootings by police are mostly avoidable and preventable, say groups pushing for officers to learn more about animal behavior.

By Mike Carter

Seattle Times staff reporter

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There has never been a documented case of a dog killing a police officer.

The same can't be said for police killing dogs.

Every year, hundreds — if not thousands — of animals, mostly canines, are killed by police or animal-control officers. According to the National Canine Research Council, up to half of the intentional shootings by police involve dogs.

Sometimes, the animals have been injured and need to be put out of their misery. Sometimes, they are vicious and killed for reasons of public or officer safety.

But mostly, they die tragically and needlessly, victims of misunderstanding, prejudice or simple convenience, according to animal-rights and behavior experts.

Usually, police simply aren't properly trained or don't have the resources to deal with canine encounters, the experts say.

The Internet is peppered with memorials to family pets gunned down by officers.

There's Axel, the 18-month-old Labrador therapy dog-in-training shot in November by an animal-control officer in Charles City, Va., for chasing a neighbor boy. Bully, Boss and Kahlua, a trio of dogs, were killed in August by police in Palm Beach, Fla., while officers were trying to arrest a friend of the dogs' owner. On Nov. 2, police in Middleton, Ohio, shot and killed a 30-pound pet pig after it reportedly tried to bite an officer. The pig was on a leash, according to news reports.

Then there's Rosie, the 4-year-old Newfoundland who was twice shot with a Taser, chased from her yard and then repeatedly shot by Des Moines police after a neighbor had reported her loose and was worried she might get hurt. A federal lawsuit filed by her owners last month, two years after her death — death that experts say happens much too often and can easily be avoided — has reopened wounds and stoked public outrage.

The officers involved were cleared of wrongdoing by the department, and Rosie's owners, Deirdre and Charles Wright, failed in their attempts to have them charged criminally.

"This has got to be a huge embarrassment for that department. And it was very preventable," said Donald Cleary, the director of communications for the National Canine Research Council (NCRC) in Amenia, N.Y., which studies human-canine relations.

"It's like they just ran out of ideas."

Even the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) has recognized the issue.

Last year, the DOJ published a 46-page police training and information guide, "The Problem of Dog-Related Incidents and Encounters," through its Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). The report, funded by a grant from the NCRC and developed by the University of Illinois Center for Public Safety and Justice, aims to dispel myths about dogs and dog bites and provide resources to help police develop nonlethal strategies for officer-dog encounters.

The report followed a 2010 position paper by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which concluded that "most instances of police shooting dogs are avoidable" and urged departments to train officers to better understand dog behavior and to use the minimum force necessary to deal with it.

The COPS report provides just that sort of useful information to street officers, said Cleary, who was one of its co-authors. For example, it contains diagrams to help officers assess the threat posed by a dog based on its "posture, vocalizations and facial expressions," and provides defensive options short of deadly force to avoid encounters with agitated, frightened or aggressive animals.

"They are very preventable, and most wouldn't happen if police knew just a little bit more about dogs," he said.

COPS Director Bernard Melekian, a former Pasadena, Calif., police chief and K-9 officer, wrote in a preface to the report that the number of dogs killed by law enforcement is on the increase and that "officers must advance beyond automatically using their weapons when encountered by a dog."

The report seeks to dispel myths about dogs and dog bites. For instance, despite reports of a "dog-bite epidemic," the number of dog bites has decreased over the past 30 years while canine populations have steadily grown, the report says. In New York City, for example, there were 37,000 reports of dog bites in 1971. In 2009, the number was fewer than 3,600.

At the same time, the majority of police-involved shootings involve animals, mostly dogs. While national numbers are not available, the report contends that statistics kept by cities that track such incidents bear this out.

For example, the report says that nearly three-quarters of the police shootings in Milwaukee, Wis., from 2000 to 2002 involved dogs. Information provided by a number of California law-enforcement agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department, indicate at least half of the intentional discharges of firearms by police between 2000 and 2005 involved animals, the report says.

Some cities have seen improvements as they've moved toward integrating animal-control and law-enforcement agencies. Last year in New York City, 43 dogs were shot in 36 different incidents, according to the NYPD's 2011 Firearms Discharge Report, which contains a section titled "Animal Attack."

It noted that NYPD officers responded to 28,000 calls for service involving dogs or other animals during the year. Five officers and two civilians were bitten during the shooting incidents, the report says.

The Seattle Police Department requires a Firearms Review Board to convene and formally review any incident involving an officer shooting at a person. However, it allows for a less stringent "summary review" of incidents involving dogs, said Becky Roe, a Seattle attorney and the civilian auditor of the SPD's Firearms Review Board.

Roe said she has not seen a Firearms Review Board report involving a dog shooting in the six years she's held the job, but that she has no information about the summary reviews. Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said he had no information about dog shootings outside the shooting-review process.

King County sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West said it has been difficult for her office to track shootings involving animals, since up until just recently, deputies were not required to write a separate report about such incidents. She said all of the shootings are reviewed by command staff.

"It certainly happens," she said.

As witnessed by the outrage directed at the Des Moines Police Department over the death of Rosie, few incidents can undermine public confidence in a police department faster than the questionable shooting of someone's pet, Cleary said.

"It's not about animal rights. And nobody is questioning an officer's right to protect himself or the public," Cleary said. "But police need to know, to really understand, is that it just doesn't look good."

And it can be expensive. While dogs do not have civil rights, their owners do, and courts have delivered some significant verdicts over the death of a pet.

In perhaps the most noteworthy case, the California cities of San Jose, Gilroy and Santa Clara paid a total of $1.8 million to the families of two Hells Angels whose three pet dogs were shot by police serving a search warrant in a homicide investigation.

North Carolina last year paid a family $77,000 and then passed a law requiring state troopers to receive training in dog behavior after an officer shot Patton, a pit-bull mix that bounded out of a car with a wagging tail after a trooper had pulled the family over on a mistaken report of a robbery. The incident was captured on videotape.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com

Is a Pet Dog Really Killed by a Police Officer Every 98 Minutes?

A new documentary promises to shed light on the size and scope of America's under-covered "puppycide" epidemic.

• MIKE RIGGS
 
• @mikeriggs
 
• Oct 24, 2013
 
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In November 2012, police officers in Commerce City, Colorado, received a call about a large dog roaming free in a subdivision. Unbeknownst to the police or the caller, Chloe, a large, three-year-old mixed breed, was not an intruder. A woman in the neighborhood was dog-sitting for a friend, and Chloe had flown the coup.
Eventually, police and an animal control officer cornered the anxious dog in an open garage. A cell phone video shows them debating what to do as Chloe sat and watched. Eventually, one of the officers tasered Chloe. She fell over, then began to run away. As Chloe attempted to flee, an animal control employee snagged her with a catch pole. That should have been the end of the story, except Commerce City Police Officer Robert Price proceeded to shoot Chloe four times with his service weapon, alarming the animal control worker and killing the dog.
Cops shooting dogs when they arguably don't need to is called "puppycide" by opponents (naturally). Animal rights activists and civil libertarians say these shootings are widespread, a result of officers having little-to-no training on how to deal with dogs.
It's certainly true that some of these shootings have become national news, from Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Mayor Cheye Calvo's black labs, to Leon Rosby's Rottweiler, to Jonathan Whitworth's corgi.
But it's not clear how often this kind of thing really happens. There are no state databases, and it's not a category in municipal crime reports. Neither the FBI nor the Bureau of Justice Statistics collect data on dog shootings. The U.S. Postal Service knows exactly how many mail carriers were bitten by dogs in 2012, but no one seems to know how many pet dogs were killed by law enforcement.
Filmmakers Patrick Reasonover and Michael "Oz" Ozias hope to nail down a rough estimate as part of their research for a documentary called Puppycide.
"We’re planning on doing a lot of Freedom of Information Act requests," Reasonover says. "We think it’s happening way more than the statistic we have." That statistic, which sits at the top of Puppycide's kickstarter page: "Every 98 minutes, a dog is shot by law enforcement." Activists came up with that number after tallying accounts of dog-shootings from news stories across the country.
Reasonover realizes his approach will be time-consuming. "We think we can get the data by looking at firearm discharge reports. There might not be a box on reports that says, 'Check here if you shot a dog,' but they will probably include information like, 'I discharged my firearm at a dog.' We’d like to show the scale."
Petsadvisor.com, a major critic of law enforcement violence toward dogs, has released an infographic showing the opposite statistic: How many cops have been killed by dogs.

Reasonover and Ozias are approaching the issue with a wide lens, looking at both policing practices and the ever-evolving role of pets in the American home. "For sure there are cops out there who think this is part of the business and this is how it should be," Oz tells me. "But there are others who think things can be different and should be different. A lot of them aren’t presently backed with training or support on how to solve the problem."
The duo are funding their efforts with a Kickstarter campaign, and have released a pretty devastating demo featuring interviews with pet owners whose dogs have been killed by police, as well as former police officers and animal rights activists.

"People who see their dogs that way see cops as evil villains wantonly murdering their dogs," Reasonover says. "These police officers, though, can’t say they’re sorry, even if they regret it, because that creates liability. So what activists are saying is look, you guys need training. That’s another big area that we’re looking at. Show both sides of the story."
Top image: In 2012 an Austin police officer shot and killed Cisco, an Australian cattle dog, while responding to a service call at the wrong address.

• http://www.citylab.com/politics/2013/10/dog-really-killed-police-officer-every-98-minutes/7356/