Boise
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The Ombudsman for Boise, Idaho asked PARC to make recommendations concerning deployment of police dogs.
PARC found that under a "find and bite" methodology, the dogs are trained to locate a suspect, bite him, and hold the bite until the canine's handler is satisfied that the suspect is unarmed and under control. The "find and bite" method leads to serious injury, unintended bites of juveniles and innocent victims, and community discontent in that the bites occur much more frequently to African-American and Latino individuals.
An alternative is "find and bark," where the canine is trained to locate a suspect, bark to alert the handler, hold the suspect at bay, and not bite unless ordered to do so by the handler or the suspect attempts to escape or tries to attack the dog.
PARC studied the canine programs in detail in five major police departments and was able to demonstrate that "find and bark" results in fewer bites to suspects without an increase in injury or risk to police officers.
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