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Comment by dsl | Hacker News Reader

Police dogs are not actual officers, as they can not meet the training and oath requirements.

I'm not aware of any laws protecting the dogs specifically other than general animal cruelty laws. But because they are very expensive to train (I know of a bomb dog that cost $30k+) you are facing felony property damage charges if you injure or disable them.

You should take a break.

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So I did some googling and like most things, "it's complicated."

It varies by state, but killing a police dog can put you in jail for 10 years (and this has happened) and that is a federal law. There are some states pursuing stricter measures themselves where killing a canine officer is equivalent to killing a human officer.

As to what I said about killing a police dog having a harsher punishment, that was based on a single anecdote and I meant that the judges serve harsher punishments, not that the laws themselves are stricter.

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900010289/senate-approve...

https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=96229&page=1

https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/man-who-killed-pittsburgh-po...

  and that is a federal law.

There is no such Federal law, as Federal law has no nexus in a local police encounter (unless there is a civil rights element).

Or one encounters federal police. DHS is out there and on patrol now.

There is no such Federal law. Animal cruelty to a dog owned by a Federal agency would be a state statute.

Exactly. The only Federal Law re animals is the Animal Welfare act, which only has to do with research animals. All 50 states have animal cruelty laws.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1368

18 U.S. Code § 1368 - Harming animals used in law enforcement

(a) Whoever willfully and maliciously harms any police animal, or attempts or conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title and imprisoned not more than 1 year. If the offense permanently disables or disfigures the animal, or causes serious bodily injury to or the death of the animal, the maximum term of imprisonment shall be 10 years.

I love learning from my mistakes! I misread the preamble (for lack of a better word) to the Animal Welfare Act’s Federal website. It says it is the only Federal Law addressing animals... or the research of: https://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/animal-welfare-act

> It varies by state, but killing a police dog can put you in jail for 10 years (and this has happened) and that is a federal law. There are some states pursuing stricter measures themselves where killing a canine officer is equivalent to killing a human officer.

Killing another person can get you life in prison or capital punishment (depending on state) that's way worse than 10 years.

There IS a law for 10 years. There ARE some states that make it like killing a human officer. The MAX for killing a person is death penalty.

See where your argument loses some teeth?

https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=96229&page=1

I imagine $30k to be cheap for a bomb dog. Service dogs with the bare minimum of tasks (2 + a general training) for people with disabilities go for $15k+ trained.

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