By Donald Cleary

They insist that breed-specific bans do not make communities safer. So does one of today's Front Burner columnists, Donald Cleary, co-author of "The Problem of Dog-Related Incidents and Encounters," a manual for emergency first responders published by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Orlando Sentinel, March 24, 2013

* * * * *

The Orlando Sentinel's editorial feature Front Burner offers a forum for a vibrant exchange by guest columnists. On May 24th the Sentinel hosted a forum titled Should pit bulls be banned? Sentinel editorial writer Darryl E. Owens moderated the debate and offered a brief introduction.

The introduction claims that The Problem of Dog-Related Incidents and Encounters (PDRIE) is published by the U.S. Department of Justice. This is a gross misrepresentation. PDRIE was conceptualized, funded, and written by Mr. Cleary and his colleagues (including Ledy VanKavage and Karen Delise), and disseminated by the COPS program.

PDRIE "was developed under the auspices of the University of Illinois Center for Public Safety and Justice, Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA), and made possible by a grant from the National Canine Research Council, LLC. (NCRC)," one of the foremost pit bull advocacy groups. The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Abstract lists the IGPA as the corporate author and the NCRC as the sponsoring agency:

Corporate Author:	University of Illinois    Institute of Government and Public Affairs    United States of America
Sponsoring Agency:	National Canine Research Council, LLC    United States of America

PDRIE is presented as a training manual for officers of the law and other first responders, but this is a transparent disguise: it is a pit bull advocacy booklet which has caused immeasurable harm to the people it pretends to help. Pit bull advocacy groups and anti-BSL web sites heralded this training manual, some with shameful illustrations:

PDRIE is distributed by the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Resource Library. When SRUV contacted the library for clarification we received the following reply:

Thank you for contacting the COPS Office regarding The Problem of Dog-Related Incidents and Encounters publication. The COPS Office disseminates publications and other knowledge resources for the law enforcement community that represent a variety of perspectives and views. This is also reflected in the disclaimer we include in all of our publications.

Thank you,

COPS Office Response Center

COPS Office

Two Constitution Square

145 N Street, NE

Washington, DC 20530

SRUV also wrote to the President of the University of Illinois, as well as Directors of the IGPA, CPSJ, and the Police Training Academy, urging them to withdraw the publication and to destroy all copies. We have yet to receive a response.


* * * * *

Forthcoming: The Problem of Dog-Related Incidents and Encounters

This is the fourth in a series of posts on the University of Illinois and fighting breeds. To see the index of all posts on this subject click here.

* * * * *

Related Post:
Florida Hell Week

Source:
The Problem of Dog-Related Incidents and Encounters (View or download here).

Orlando Sentinel Forum on Pit Bulls
The Front Burner: Should pit bulls be banned?
   Introduction by Orlando Sentinel Editorial writer Darryl E. Owens
   Orlando Sentinel, May 24, 2013
BSL: Not new and not working, By Donald Cleary, Guest columnist
  Orlando Sentinel, May 24, 2013
Banning pit bulls saves lives and protects the innocent, By Colleen Lynn, Guest Columnist
   Orlando Sentinel, May 24, 2013

Acronyms:
IGPA (Institute of Government & Public Affairs)
CPSJ (Center for Public Safety and Justice)
RICP (Regional Institute for Community Policing)
PTI (Police Training Institute)
COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services)

Google News: Police use of weapons against pit bulls
Google News: Today's pit bull attacks





-->-->
>