Written by Thomas Whetstone


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Written by Thomas Whetstone
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Police dogs

Dogs were first trained for police work at the turn of the 20th century in Ghent, Belg., and the practice was soon adopted elsewhere. Although certain breeds with especially keen senses have been used for special purposes—such as detecting caches of illegal drugs and explosives and tracking fugitives and missing persons—the most widely trained dog for regular patrol work is the German shepherd, or Alsatian. Other breeds that are sometimes used include boxers, Doberman pinschers, Airedale terriers, rottweilers, schnauzers, and bloodhounds. For detection tasks, the size of the animal is less important than its olfactory sensitivity. Selected animals must meet specific criteria regarding physical characteristics and temperament, and their training is comprehensive and rigorous.

Firearms and explosives

Although police forces commonly authorize their officers to possess firearms and to use them when necessary, not all police carry these lethal weapons. There are four distinct cases in respect to the use of firearms by police.

First, there is the case of most police forces in the world: police officers carry firearms and are instructed to make minimal use of them. The number of police-caused fatalities varies greatly among such countries, the highest number being recorded in the United States.

Second, there are military police forces that are heavily armed with automatic rifles and submachine guns, such as the AK-47 used in countries in the Middle East, Asia, and other regions. Military police operate in most developing countries, where civilian police forces are typically underfunded and undertrained. Although many governments consider the use of heavy weapons by police to be justified by the threat to society posed by dangerous criminals, critics have claimed that heavily armed police tend to kill large numbers of people unnecessarily, sometimes in circumstances that amount to extrajudicial execution. In the Brazilian state of São Paulo, for example, military police shot and killed hundreds of people each year in the late 20th and early 21st centuries in what were officially reported as shoot-outs with criminals.

Third, there are some police forces that do not carry firearms in any circumstances. Such police operate in the cities of continental Europe under the local authority of a mayor. Unarmed, they perform various order-maintenance duties, such as the enforcement of local bylaws and traffic regulations.

Finally, a small number of police forces severely restrict the use of firearms by their personnel. Today police officers do not normally carry firearms in New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom (except in Northern Ireland, where officers of the Police Service of Northern Ireland are armed). In New Zealand only the members of Armed Offenders Squads (AOS), which were established in 1964 after the fatal shooting of four police officers, are allowed to carry and use firearms. Each AOS is staffed with part-time police volunteers drawn from all branches of the police, and the squads operate only on a call-out basis. In Norway only a police chief can authorize the use of firearms by officers, and in the United Kingdom officers are allowed to use firearms only in specific circumstances. The Special Air Service, a paratrooper unit of the British military, administers special training in firearms to authorized police officers in the United Kingdom. In England and Wales, as in other countries, restrictions on the use of firearms by police have helped to minimize the number of unintended fatalities resulting from police operations. Nevertheless, after a series of terrorist bombings in the London public transportation system in 2005, there were calls in Britain for increasing the number of police officers authorized to use firearms.

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