Animal rights campaigners are calling for a ban on the use of police dogs, citing a surge in injuries sustained by the animals during recent riots.
Elisa Allen, vice president of programs at PETA, has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, urging him to take police dogs out of action.
Allen highlighted several incidents where police dogs were injured during the summer riots, including one dog that was bitten and strangled by an offender and later burned in the Southport riots.
“Dogs in Britain’s police forces never signed up to risk their lives but are being battered on the front lines of riots and left to bake in hot cars,” Allen stated. “PETA is urging the Metropolitan Police to end the use of dogs and adopt modern methods of maintaining law and order that don’t subject animals to a lifetime of violence.”
Allen argued that with advancements in technology, there is no longer a need to use animals in police work.
She called on the Metropolitan Police to begin phasing out police dogs from service.