Editor,
This barbaric practice of our police sicking large and ferocious attack dogs on citizens should stop. Thus in Albuquerque, what exactly happened when a paranoid schizophrenic camper in the Sandia foothills had a police dog sent at him? One report stated that the dog had been sent to bite him. Even a normal, innocent person would be terrified enough to fight back instinctively and with no time for thought when a dog is coming at you off leash.
So very recently we have seen the case of one local man who did, but the corresponding front page news told only of the suspect hurting the dog, not anything about the dog hurting the suspect. Are such cryptically-called K-9s allowed to maul the suspect, even to death, in such a situation where the suspect is hurting it?
Some Americans are old enough to learn of such attacks by police dogs and be reminded of the police that were sicked on African-American groups harmlessly demanding civil rights. There was demeaning hauteur behind this action.
Better, in these modern times with all the high-tech tools this country has available, to send a restraining robot at a potentially dangerous civilian, especially one who is seriously mentally ill.
Arun Ahuja
UNM student
