Police to deploy anti-riot dogs

Dogs trained to pursue and overpower suspects, cornering them until police can arrive to arrest them.

By BEN HARTMAN
Border Police officer and bomb-sniffing dog in Jerusalem on October 16, 2015 (photo credit: ISRAEL BORDER POLICE SPOKESMAN)
Border Police officer and bomb-sniffing dog in Jerusalem on October 16, 2015
(photo credit: ISRAEL BORDER POLICE SPOKESMAN)
Israel Police plans to deploy specially-trained dogs to thwart rioting at several locations around Israel, the police said in a statement on Sunday.
Acting police commissioner Assistant Chief Bentzi Sau said the measure is part of an attempt to increase the non-lethal means at the disposal of officers in order to reduce the collateral damage often caused when law enforcement personnel use firearms in public.
Police said there are currently six dogs undergoing training as part of the initiative. They are to be deployed in Jerusalem and along major traffic thoroughfares, where they can be used against rock-throwers and people throwing firebombs at motorists.
Police said the dogs will only be used “in instances where there is a clear and present danger to human life or a threat of bodily injury such as from firebombs or rock-throwers.”
They said the dogs will be muzzled at all times and are not trained to bite, rather, they are trained to pursue and overpower suspects, cornering them until police can arrive to arrest them.