Minister welcomes CMC report into police dog bites

Police Minister Judy Spence today welcomed a CMC report which found recorded bites by police dogs had decreased.

The CMC report states: “Since 2000, there has been a considerable and clearly measurable improvement in the dog squad … such as a major decrease in bites and complaints against police dog handlers. The QPS Dog Squad deserves to be commended for this”.

Between 1999 and 2006 there was:

·A marked decrease in complaints involving juveniles (from nine people in 1999-2000 to one person in 2005-06)

·A decrease in the number of people who reported multiple dog bites (from 23 people in 1999-2000 to three people in 2005-06)

·An increase in victims who reported being offered medical assistance after being bitten by a police dog (from 55% in 1999-2000 to 100% in 2005-06)

In 2005-06 there were 73 reported bite incidents among the 58 general purpose dog handler teams in the Queensland Police Service. That represents an average of 1.3 reported bite incidents per team. The CMC report stated: “This does not appear excessive”.

While the CMC commends the dog squad the report also makes five recommendations for the QPS to better monitor and manage the deployment of its dogs.

Ms Spence said: "Police welcome the CMC report and support the recommendations. Most have already been addressed."

“In the meantime it needs to be pointed out that the dog squad serves a very important role and in the great majority of incidents nobody is bitten by a police dog.

“However, offenders need to realise that in certain circumstances there is always the chance they will be apprehended by a police dog,” Ms Spence said.

Media contact: 32396218

11 December 2007