Tucson Police K-9 killed in the line of duty
 

Ivan, a TPD K-9, was shot and killed on Wednesday. Very sad. :(

God's speed, Ivan.


Suspect shot, killed by police after shooting K-9 patrol dog

That's so sad.

Very unfortunate. RIP Ivan :(

Trying to help him by releasing the K9 while he is holding a gun to his head?

I may be mistaken, but the dogs are trained to disable any arm with a weapon. It would be very hard to maneuver your arm around with a dog attached to it. Possibly the officer thought that would give the man a chance at life. Unfortunately the dog died because of this, but he seemed he was just trying to help the man.

One of the things the K9s are trained to do, is to launch themselves @ the gun arm, whereby the gunman drops the gun. That way, the gun can't be used on the bad guy OR the good guys. It's used quite often. The human cop was very justified in his actions, IMO.

RIP Ivan - Thank You for Your Service.

I know that. Just think it's a waist of a dog, time and a lot of money that went into the dog, to send him after someone who wants to kill himself, then kills the dog and then the guy is killed by the officers. It's a total loss. But I guess you just never know the outcome...

As society would see it possibility of a human life saved > the possibility of a dogs life saved.

That's not accurate. While it's true that an officer may well use the dog in a situation that could be fatal to the dog, life and limb of humans always come first. No officer likes to lose his dog in such a situation, but it is better than losing human life.

As rule, police do not train the dog to go to a specific target. Generally the dog takes what is offered, or what is accessible.

DFrost

I think if you participated in the citizen's police academy, a lot of your answers regarding protocol would be answered. You get to ride-a-long with officers at one point and understand why and how they defend themselves and protect others. It is very eye-opening (and slightly scary at times...be prepared...I wasn't!) They also do K-9 demonstrations at some departments, which is lovely to watch.