VANCOUVER — A legal advocacy group is calling on the British Columbia government to release newly gathered statistics about the use of police dogs in the province.
Pivot Legal Society also wants the provincial government to conduct an audit of how closely the Vancouver Police Department is following a new law around police dog training and deployment, which came into effect a year ago.
Spokesman Doug King says Vancouver police have the highest bite ratio of any department in the province and going public with the statistics could lead to changes that would help lower that number.
Last month a bystander was bitten while Vancouver officers were responding to a reported kidnapping and double murder — an incident for which police have since apologized.
A police dog tore off part of the man's ear before grabbing his leg and dragging him across the ground.
Vancouver police spokesman Sgt. Brian Montague says they are transparent about their dog-bite data and wouldn't stand in the way of the province disclosing that information to the public.
