LONG BEACH – Despite an increase in the number of times a Long Beach Police Department K-9 unitcs dog bites a suspect, the unit has a bite ratio three times lower than that of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and less than half of the Los Angeles Police Department.
"When you look at some other agencies that have bite ratios into the high double-digit percentages, I think our K-9 bite ratio is lower than those," said Commander Michael Beckman with Long Beach Police. "We are very disciplined when it comes to the K-9 units."
Last year the Long Beach Police K-9 unit had a 6 percent bite ratio – a statistic that weighs the number of bites against the number of suspects located – compared to the Sheriff's Department, which had a ratio of more than 30 percent. In 2012, LAPD had a 20.5 percent bite ratio. According to statistics obtained from the LAPD and the Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC), sheriff's dogs bit nearly 50 percent more often last year than LAPD's K-9s, and more than triple the times of Long Beach's dogs.
This year, though, Long Beach Police's ratio did increase to about 9 percent, Beckman said, though he said it's difficult to say why there was an increase.
In 2012, a K-9 unit was deployed 224 times resulting in 14 contacts or bites. This year from Jan. 1 to Nov. 1, there have been a total of 177 deployments with 17 contacts.
PARC's study found that 89 percent of the total bites recorded between 2004 and 2012 involved black or Latino suspects. This year, all 17 of the suspects bitten by Long Beach Police dogs were either black or Latino, Beckman said.
"We initiate a K-9 deployment based on the felony crime and never by race," Beckman said, adding that in all 17 cases the suspects showed a "wanton disregard for the law" as well as being felony suspects.
Law enforcement authorities, including Long Beach and LASD officials, have said most bites tend to occur in neighborhoods with high crime rates. However, even if some areas have higher crime rates, the findings that minorities are being bitten more often than whites requires a thorough investigation, according Peter Eliasberg, legal director for ACLU of Southern California.
"Any time you see these kind of disproportionate results, I think that should be cause for concern," Eliasberg said. "I think we as a society should be concerned that we have policies that have these results, even if they are not necessarily driven by a segregation mindset."
Those areas, while they have more crime, should not produce such high numbers, he said.
"There are plenty of white suspects that are thought to be armed or thought to have committed a crime," Eliasberg said. "The numbers seem to be so disproportionate in the same way the 'stop and frisk' numbers have been so disproportionate in New York and L.A. I don't find that to be a persuasive argument."
Law enforcement K-9 bite ratios have come under scrutiny recently after the PARC report discovered the two largest law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles County have polar opposite opinions when it comes to K-9 programs, boiling down to drawing blood versus baring teeth.
LAPD uses a tactic called "find and bark." LASD's tactic, which it officially refers to as "Handler Control With An Emphasis on Positive Alert," is more commonly described as "find and bite."
A "find and bite" dog searches for a suspect once released by their handler and then immediately attempts to subdue whomever it finds. The LAPD switched from "find and bite" in the early 1990s to reduce the risk of litigation, according to Sgt. Michael Goosby, LAPDcs chief trainer for the K-9 program.
"We went through a large amount of lawsuits," he said. "It got to the point where we were getting ready to lose the unit."
The LAPD's bite ratio skyrocketed to 81 percent in 1990, according to a 1998 University of Southern California study by Alec Campbell, Richard Berk and James Fyfe. LASD's bite ratio was around 36 percent based on data from 1991, according to that study.
The Los Angeles Police Department averaged 45-55 percent in the early 1990s, Goosby said. That percentage dropped to 15-25 percent after "find and bark" became the norm, he said.
"It forced us to change our game," Goosby said.
LASD's bite ratio has fluctuated in recent years. It was less than 10 percent in 1998, but has stayed at roughly 30 percent for the last several years, according to data released by PARC.
Both departments deploy K-9s under specific conditions, usually when a suspect is believed holed up or armed and hidden. K-9s typically reduce the risk of harm for their human colleagues by detecting suspects who may otherwise get the drop on officers. Goosby noted that both departments use similar procedures, except for the difference of the dogcsgoal: the bite versus the bark.
In Long Beach, "The trainer and the dog is certified under both techniques," said Lt. Darren Davenport with the department's special enforcement instruction.
The K-9 units train on a weekly basis and have honed their skills, Davenport said.
Beckman cites training as one of the reasons why the department may have a lower bite ratio than other agencies.
"Our K-9 handlers will make multiple announcements when theycre about to search an area," Beckman said. "They are not only done within a particular area from the ground but through the PA system through the helicopter. If we're doing a door-to-door search, the handler will make individual announcements indicating wecre the police and the dog is here. All of our K-9 contacts have taken place when (suspects) have been given multiple opportunities to give up."
A recent joint-training exercise by LAPD and LASD came a few weeks after a scathing report by PARC called on the Sheriffcs Department to improve its K-9 program. The report by PARC Special Counsel Merrick Bobb determined that LASDcs handlers more readily use dog bites when K-9s are deployed instead of using less damaging types of force.
"Used properly, this tool can greatly enhance the efficiency of resolving the crisis, prevent deputy-involved shootings and improve officer safety," the report states. "Used incorrectly, and a dog bite can easily become a significant misuse of force that results in serious injury to a suspect or innocent bystander and significant legal exposure for the County."
Beckman agrees the dogs are an invaluable less-than-lethal tool at the department's disposal that can help keep both officers and the public safe.
Contact Beatriz E. Valenzuela at 562-499-1466.
Staff writer Jason Henry contributed.