Letter: Officer made correct choice

Talk about it

I would like to respond to the letter written in regard to the dog being shot by a local law enforcement officer.

First, I would like to commend the officer for doing his job in keeping people safe.

Being a former officer myself, I had experienced numerous situations involving dogs that I also had to destroy.

Don’t get me wrong, I am an animal lover and had trained German shepherds, so I know how fast a large dog can come at you.

The person writing the letter had some good suggestions, but some of these animals are so aggressive and fast that I have seen bites with such force the animal can break bones and do serious damage to a person.

In one of my cases, an 80-year-old woman was shoveling her driveway when a black lab came from a residence from across the street. The dog bit her forearm, breaking it. She had numerous bites to both arms and legs. After getting out of the hospital, the woman was so afraid to leave her home, she had to have an escort at all times.

One other case, I had a lab come at me so fast in such an aggressive manner that when I shot it, it fell dead at my feet.

So many people don’t realize that peace officers go through very extensive training. A lot of this training is done over and over again using split-second decisions.

This job is one of the toughest where in a matter of seconds a decision must be made to protect the public and yourself.

In my case above, I made that split-second decision to shoot. That dog lay at my feet within those few seconds. There was no time to yell at it, throw rocks at it, or take a jacket and wrap up my arm or even try and run.

Even if that officer used one of those methods mentioned, the dog is released back to the owner and a few days later the officer is called back because that same dog just severely chewed up an 80-year-old woman, a young boy or girl, or even a baby. How would that officer feel? How would you feel?

In conclusion, I feel the officer made the best decision possible to protect himself and the public.

James H. Kadrmas, Dickinson

Tags: james h. kadrmas, opinion, letters