• B.C. has finalized a set of standards for police dog use, which are now posted online at: www.pssg.gov.bc.ca/policeservices/standards/
 

• These provincial standards - the first of their kind in Canada - are designed to ensure police handlers and dogs continue to further public safety while minimizing bites and injuries. The standards include: 
  
• Guiding principles - including that police dogs must be well-trained, always under their handler's control, and deployed only when appropriate to the situation.
• Handler responsibilities - such as taking reasonable steps to prevent accidental and unwarranted bites.
• Deployment and bite guidelines. Police dogs may bite only if someone is causing or about to cause bodily harm, or is fleeing or hiding and in the circumstances there are reasonable grounds for immediate apprehension by a police dog bite. The standards further set out what factors would determine reasonable grounds, such as the seriousness of the offence, whether lesser force would be effective and the age of the suspect. Under the standards, verbal warnings must precede deployment, unless this would place anyone at further risk.
• Standards for bite treatment, reporting and review. Police agencies will be required to complete a detailed report for each bite incident and provide related data to the Province.
• Requirements for annual testing of every dog handler team. Notably, dogs must demonstrate their continued ability to be called off, remain under control while biting, and promptly release a bite upon hearing their handler's command. 
  
• A planned effective date of Sept. 1, 2015, is expected to give B.C. police agencies sufficient time to adjust their existing policy and training requirements. 
  
• Each B.C. police agency with a dog squad had a representative on the working group that deliberated and drafted the standards. In turn, the draft standards were refined through consultation with the Advisory Committee on Provincial Policing Standards and other stakeholders. 
  
• Police dogs are important policing tools and can be used for a variety of tasks, including locating and apprehending suspects, searching for evidence, protecting their handlers, searching for missing people, controlling crowds, searching for drugs or explosives, and community relations and other demonstration events.

Media Contact:

Government Communications and Public Engagement
Ministry of Justice
250 213-3602