Group calls on Regina police to review K-9 conduct and policy

The Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism is urging police to review the use of canine officers after two bystanders were bitten by police dogs this month. It wants a thorough review of the training of the dogs and the policies that guide it.

This isn't the first time SCAR has spoken out against the way police dogs are used in the city.

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"Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism began actually in the early '80s as a result of concern over police-dog bitings, particularly for First Nation youth," spokesperson Bob Hughes said.

The Regina police use-of-force committee is reviewing cases where two innocent people were bitten by police dogs in separate incidents this month, but Hughes said that should go further.

"We would like a wider study — a review of procedures, training and everything there."

Dog use dissected decades ago

Three decades ago, the Regina Police Service's use of dogs resulted in a series of complaints regarding excessive force, race relations and off-leash use.

Former MLA and United Church minister Don Faris and Walter Currie, an Indigenous professor in Saskatoon, were asked to review policies and practices in the early 1980s. 

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They co-authored a report that included several recommendations.

The Faris-Currie report advised the revision of training manuals, a review of all canine team reports and the change or retraining of staff. It also called for establishing guidelines that all dogs must be on-leash unless the off-leash scenario is warranted by a serious crime or endangerment of life. 

Dogs can be detection tools, it found, but the animals can also be weapons and so their use must always be justified. 

CBC reported Regina's board of police commissioners agreed with parts of the report, noting it still supported the use of dogs, but was responsible to the public for the way they're used.

Provincial archives show the five Regina police officers in the canine unit at the time asked to be transferred because of "restrictions placed on them" by the board. 

Remembering the report

Today, Don Faris is retired and lives in British Columbia, but when reached by phone he said he wasn't surprised the conversation around the use of police dogs has continued.

There was a legitimate use of dogs, but you know, when you're using them you have to be very careful.- Don Faris, former Sask. MLA

He recalled the research he and Currie did for their report, noting they travelled throughout Canada and even to some places in the United States to see how police dogs were used elsewhere.

"We came to the assessment that the dogs for the tracking ability are extraordinarily useful," he said.

"We felt there was a legitimate use of dogs, but you know, when you're using them you have to be very careful."

Faris said dogs — and their handlers — must be properly trained, and furthermore they must do what they were trained to do. 

It's imperative the most recent incidents are investigated to see if all policies were followed, he said. 

"And if they were doing what they were trained to do and this situation grows, maybe the regulations have to be changed in some way."

The Regina Police Service declined to comment on Friday.  A spokesperson said in an email "we will let our internal process review before we comment any further on this situation."

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