Datasets & Documents


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Freedom of Information Act, Police and Court Documents

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The FOIA process allows researchers to bring documents that have long been kept secret available to the general public. Records acquired from FOIA requests provides a substantial amount of PuppycideDB's data. Providing the public with easy access to this information is among the most important work done here. Arrest records, court rulings and motions, IA investigation documents, firearm discharge reports and other police documents confirming data contained in the database will be posted here. This information is essentially public and charging for it is antithetical to the rule of law.


Research Related to Police Use of Force

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This section of our online library contains documents that are related to the study of police use of force. Many of the documents available here arecited by the Puppycide Database Project in our our publications. Some of the research here may not seem immediately relevant to thetopic, particularly to new readers - the subject matter here is thoroughly inter-disciplinary. Keep in mind that this field of study demands considerationson the lethality of both dog attacks and police gunshots, the social and psychological ramifications of violence as well as procedures for mining andanalyzing large sets of data.


Laws & Regulations

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The section of our online library called "Freedom of Information Act, Police & Court Documents" is devoted to internal law enforcement documentation, lawsuit depositions and court decisions and evidence related directly to the investigation of use of force incidents (or lack thereof). In this section, "Laws & Regulations", we have compiled ordinances and caselaw that forms the legal basis for those investigations and other issues related to puppycide. Here you will find laws related to animal care and abuse, police officer training, reckless use of firearms and even ordinances establishing animal control funding.

  • Mississippi Legislature Mississippi Legislature Representatives Larry Byrd & Tommy Taylor (of Districts 104 and 28, respectively) attempted to introduce additional liability for owners of animals that the state deems "dangerous". The bill failed after encountering substantial, bipartisan and very public resistance.
    | Published: 2015

  • Federal animal protection laws Congressional Research Service From this paper's summary: "This report contains brief summaries of federal animal protection statutes, listed alphabetically. It includes statutes enacted to implement certain treaties, but it does not include treaties. Additionally, this report includes statutes that concern animals but that are not necessarily animal protection statutes. For example, it discusses a statute authorizing the eradication of predators, because one of the statute’s purposes is to protect domestic and “game” animals; and it includes statutes to conserve fish even though the ultimate purpose of such statutes may not be for the benefit of the fish. This report also includes statutes that allow the disabled to use service animals and statutes aimed at acts of animal rights advocates—i.e., the Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992, and the Recreational Hunting Safety and Preservation Act of 1994."

  • Colorado General Assembly In 2013, the Colorado General Assembly passed the "Dog Protection Act", which requires police training in dog encounters as well as creates a "Dog Protection Task Force". The bill's signatories were Senators Balmer and Guzman, Giron, Jahn, Jones, Kefalas, King, Lundberg, Newell, Steadman, Tochtrop and Todd as well as Representaties Court and Coram, Fields, Foote, Gardner, Ginal, Hamner, Hullinghorst, Kagan, Landgraf, Lebsock, Pabon, Pettersen, Primavera, Rosenthal, Ryden, Schafer, Singer and Tyler.
    | Published: May 13, 2013

  • Michigan Legislature This 100 year old legislation continues to form the legal basis for police interactions with dogs and other domestic pets in the state of Michigan.
    | Published: August 14, 1919

  • State of California animal protection laws A compilation of laws related to the care and abuse of animals in the State of California. Published by the Animal Legal Defense Fund
    | Published: Date: November 30, 2012 | From: Animal Protection Laws of the USA & Canada, 8th Edition

  • Ohio State Senate New regulations introduced by the Ohio State Senateintroduce additional liability to owners of animals that the state deems "dangerous"
    | Published: April 25, 2012

  • Chattanooga Tennessee City Council ordinances A brief summay of animal-related regulations and fines for the city of Chattanooga Tennessee, published by the McKamey Animal Center

  • Multnomah County Oregon County Board of Commissioners animal service ordinances Multnomah County has instituted an innovative series of Animal Services regulations that represent a complete departure from older breed-specific legislation. A complete copy of Multnomah County's Animal Service's Code, as well as an explanation of Multnomah's approach and its significance provided by the Animal Legal Defense Fund is available here.
    | Multnomah County Oregon County Board of Commissioners | Published: July 1, 2010

  • Cincinnati Ohio Municipal Code Chapter 701 Following the widely publicized dog attack on a young girl, the Cincinnati Ohio City Council updated Chapter 701 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code in order to increase civil and criminal penalties for pet owners in a variety of circumstances. The updates remove widely accepted exemptions to leash rules, compelling owners to leash their dogs inside of private homes and in dog shows.
    | Author: , Cincinatti City Solicitor Published: August 1, 2014

  • North Carolina North Carolina animal control & firearm laws
    | Senate Bill 34 / S.L. 2007-80 introduced by Senator A.B. Swindell (D-Nash) to make killing a police dog a felony that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Prior to this bill, shooting a K-9 officer was equated to damaging police property since departments spend thousands of dollars and months of training on each dog - North Carolina State Senate | Published: June 14, 2007
    | Exempts law enforcement officers from criminal culpability for the reckless use of firearms - North Carolina State Senate | Published: May 27, 1997
    | From the document's introduction: "This publication is designed to assemble and present the basic firearms and weapons laws of North Carolina in an effort to educate and emphasize for the public, the responsibilities and duties pertaining to the possession and use of firearms and related weapons in North Carolina. Most of the guidelines regarding the use, possession, and transfer of firearms in this publication are based upon statutory authority, case law, and Attorney General opinions." - North Carolina Department of Justice Law Enforcement Liaison Section - Special Deputy State Attorney General (Retired) - State Attorney General | Published: 2014-09

  • Tennessee General Assembly Public Acts, 2004 Chapter No. 940 Senate Bill No. 374 Also called the General Patton Act of 2003 and, briefly, the T-Bo Act, this legislation was passed by the Tennessee General Assembly following negative publicity and protests caused by the Tennessee Highway Patrol killing a family's dog during a routine traffic stop in front of the family's teenage son. The law finalized mandatory training for police who encounter canines and increased penalties for the killing of companion animals. Signatories of the Act included: , , and in the Tennessee House of Representatives and , , , and in the Tennessee Senate.

  • Texas animal control regulations Laws enacted by the Texas Legislature related to animal control by municipal employees, civilians and law enforcement
    | Texas law provides a "vigilante" exemption for owners of animals who kill a dog that has attacked their animals. Such owners, or those who kill a dog on their behalf, are exempt from any legal culpability. This law was the basis for a Grand Jury no-file of Forth Worth Police Deputy Chief Kenneth Wayne Flynn, who hunted down and killed his neighbors dog in front of a witness after his wife claimed the dog had killed their cat. | Published: September 1, 1989
    | This bill, filed by Texas Representative (D-Fort Worth) and enacted into law in later 2015, requires animal encounter classes for police officers "with an emphasis on canine-related incidents and the use of nonlethal methods and tools in handling an encounter." | Published: April 1, 2015
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