SavannahMann
Platinum Member
- Nov 16, 2016
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Many people believe that I hate the police. I argue I don't, but they don't listen. I saw this case, and thought about it for a bit. First let me get the link in so you can read it yourself.
Former Exeter officer charged in dog mauling case
I've said I am a Truth Whore. I will take truth from anyone. When I read that story, I was struck by a thought. First Blood, the book and movie starring Sylvester Stallone. In the book Rambo is killed by Troutman at the end. The choice of Richard Crenna to play Troutman was a last minute change. There was a big fight between Stallone and Lee Marvin who was slated to play Troutman. Marvin thought that Rambo had to die. The character dies in the book after all. Stallone did not want Rambo to die. PTSD wasn't really identified at the time, all anyone knew was that some of the Vets coming home had issues.
Stallone refused to make the statement in the movie that the only answer for Veterans with issues was to kill them. Richard Crenna arrived on set the day before he filmed his famous scene. "God didn't make Rambo, I made him."
I thought about this when I read the story. The dog was trained to attack, chosen for the aggressive traits in that particular dog, and trained up to make those traits even more dominant. The Dog wants to please, and did everything asked of it. From what I can gather, the dog got out, and a fight ensued with another dog.
During this fight, two people wandered into the zone of the fight. The dog turned on them. I don't believe the dog meant any malice towards them, I think it was acting according to it's trained instinctive response. The other part of the training for a Police Dog is to ignore commands from anyone except the handler. Often they will train the dogs in other languages to minimize the chance of a baddie giving the dog the order to stop.
But that now brings us to the cop who owned the dog after it had been retired. While I don't know what efforts he took to secure the dog, and what he was supposed to do, I believe he did not want to see anyone harmed by the dog. To be a good dog handler, you have to love the dog. Stories abound of handlers who lose their canine partner and are devastated. I don't believe Alex Geiger did anything that exacerbated the situation, and that leaves the question of reasonable precautions.
Was the dog kept in a fenced yard? Probably since the story says the dog got out.
I am not an unquestioning supporter of police. I am about as unforgiving as you can get when it comes to Police Misconduct. I don't see misconduct here. I see a tragedy, and while I don't know all the facts, I don't see a reason for this man to go to prison for this crime.
I'm not a big fan of the Capone theory. You get them on whatever crime you can make stick. I believe that people should be punished for what they do, not what we can get them for.
I am sorry that someone died. I'd like to see the day where nobody dies. I'm sorry someone was injured. But from what I've read, it doesn't look like Geiger did anything wrong here. The best laid plans to keep Humans contained are often incomplete. The Germans built Stalag Luft Three to keep the Allied Prisoner of War in. That was the famous Great Escape from books and movies. Alcatraz was escape proof, until it wasn't. If we can't manage to keep humans in, what precautions can a person reasonably take that would insure a dog didn't escape when his instinctive Alpha dog was threatened by another?
We try, and sometimes despite our best efforts, we fail. I don't blame people for trying and failing. I blame them for not trying. My First Sergeant used to tell me a phrase when I screwed up. Good initiative. Bad Judgement. In other words, I saw something that needed done, and gave it a shot. I screwed up. Top didn't want me to stop trying to do the right thing, he wanted me to become more proficient at figuring out what I could do in those circumstances.
Former Exeter officer charged in dog mauling case
I've said I am a Truth Whore. I will take truth from anyone. When I read that story, I was struck by a thought. First Blood, the book and movie starring Sylvester Stallone. In the book Rambo is killed by Troutman at the end. The choice of Richard Crenna to play Troutman was a last minute change. There was a big fight between Stallone and Lee Marvin who was slated to play Troutman. Marvin thought that Rambo had to die. The character dies in the book after all. Stallone did not want Rambo to die. PTSD wasn't really identified at the time, all anyone knew was that some of the Vets coming home had issues.
Stallone refused to make the statement in the movie that the only answer for Veterans with issues was to kill them. Richard Crenna arrived on set the day before he filmed his famous scene. "God didn't make Rambo, I made him."
I thought about this when I read the story. The dog was trained to attack, chosen for the aggressive traits in that particular dog, and trained up to make those traits even more dominant. The Dog wants to please, and did everything asked of it. From what I can gather, the dog got out, and a fight ensued with another dog.
During this fight, two people wandered into the zone of the fight. The dog turned on them. I don't believe the dog meant any malice towards them, I think it was acting according to it's trained instinctive response. The other part of the training for a Police Dog is to ignore commands from anyone except the handler. Often they will train the dogs in other languages to minimize the chance of a baddie giving the dog the order to stop.
But that now brings us to the cop who owned the dog after it had been retired. While I don't know what efforts he took to secure the dog, and what he was supposed to do, I believe he did not want to see anyone harmed by the dog. To be a good dog handler, you have to love the dog. Stories abound of handlers who lose their canine partner and are devastated. I don't believe Alex Geiger did anything that exacerbated the situation, and that leaves the question of reasonable precautions.
Was the dog kept in a fenced yard? Probably since the story says the dog got out.
I am not an unquestioning supporter of police. I am about as unforgiving as you can get when it comes to Police Misconduct. I don't see misconduct here. I see a tragedy, and while I don't know all the facts, I don't see a reason for this man to go to prison for this crime.
I'm not a big fan of the Capone theory. You get them on whatever crime you can make stick. I believe that people should be punished for what they do, not what we can get them for.
I am sorry that someone died. I'd like to see the day where nobody dies. I'm sorry someone was injured. But from what I've read, it doesn't look like Geiger did anything wrong here. The best laid plans to keep Humans contained are often incomplete. The Germans built Stalag Luft Three to keep the Allied Prisoner of War in. That was the famous Great Escape from books and movies. Alcatraz was escape proof, until it wasn't. If we can't manage to keep humans in, what precautions can a person reasonably take that would insure a dog didn't escape when his instinctive Alpha dog was threatened by another?
We try, and sometimes despite our best efforts, we fail. I don't blame people for trying and failing. I blame them for not trying. My First Sergeant used to tell me a phrase when I screwed up. Good initiative. Bad Judgement. In other words, I saw something that needed done, and gave it a shot. I screwed up. Top didn't want me to stop trying to do the right thing, he wanted me to become more proficient at figuring out what I could do in those circumstances.