As a puppy, there were high hopes for Ayke to help revive the Santa Fe Police Department's K-9 program. Now, four years later, the German shepherd is in the doghouse. He has bitten more people than any other dog in the department's K-9 unit and is the subject of an internal affairs investigation into an attack in March on one of the department's own officers, the AP reports. The city also is defending against a lawsuit filed by an officer who underwent plastic surgery after being attacked during a 2022 training exercise, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.
Like other law enforcement agencies across the nation, the Santa Fe police force contends that K-9 units can be helpful when trying to detect illicit drugs or explosive materials or apprehend suspects. But injuries caused by the animals have made headlines in Ohio, Utah, and elsewhere in recent years. The Marshall Project noted in 2020 that while there was no national database for tracking the use of K-9s, an investigation found that bites were documented in nearly every state. The nonprofit group also noted that excessive force lawsuits over dog bites are difficult to win, as police officers are often shielded from liability and federal civil rights laws don't typically cover bystanders who are bitten by mistake.
In Santa Fe, Ayke is still on the job. Deputy Police Chief Ben Valdez wrote in an email that the department is confident the dog doesn't represent a danger to the public. In response to a question about the potential drawbacks of using the dogs, Valdez responded: "Police K-9s are a valuable asset for our community, when properly utilized there are no cons." The department requires K-9 units to complete at least 320 hours of training per year and for handlers to undergo physical and psychological well-being testing.
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