ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Police officers have shot and killed a half-dozen dogs this year in the city.
But it was the seventh fatal shooting, involving a 12-year-old arthritic golden retriever named Boomer, that gave St. Petersburg police Chief Chuck Harmon pause.
After an internal investigation examining the Oct. 1 incident in which Officer Misty Swanson, 25, shot and killed the dog, police ruled the shooting was justified.
But in releasing the ruling Wednesday, Harmon announced policy changes for the department, including the use of "catch-poles" to help restrain dogs and stricter requirements for deploying officers on vicious dog calls.
From now on, officers will be dispatched to such calls only when a person is in "imminent danger," Harmon said. In the Oct. 1 case involving Boomer, it is not likely an officer would have responded, and the shooting would not have happened.
"I know the pain of having to do something like that," Harmon said. The chief had to shoot a dog in the line of duty when he was a patrol officer, and last year had to put down a family dog.
Boomer belonged to personal injury lawyer Roy Glass. Since his dog was killed, Glass and his wife, Lauren, have led a campaign to demand that police be trained in dealing with animals. The movement includes an online petition at change.org and a dedicated Facebook page with more than 3,700 followers.
Wednesday's announcement was the first time the department addressed the case of Boomer. Citing the ongoing investigation, police officials have declined to comment over the past month.
Swanson and Officer Michelle Fotovat responded to 445 20th Ave. NE after receiving reports of an aggressive dog , officials said. Workers had accidentally freed Boomer from his yard.
The officers found Boomer, who initially seemed "social," according to Fotovat's report of the incident. But when Swanson tried to look at the retriever's tag, the dog became "vicious," Fotovat wrote. Swanson shot the dog from about 2 feet away, the report says.
The Glass family thought Boomer was missing, and didn't know he had been killed until the Humane Society called days later.
Several other owners of dogs killed this year by St. Petersburg officers have joined the Glasses' push to change police policy, saying their pets also had been unjustly killed. Besides pressuring police, Glass hopes to contact state legislators to inspire change so pets are viewed as family members instead of property.
Reached at his law office Wednesday, Glass said his family had mixed feelings about Harmon's announcement.
"My wife was crying when she heard," Glass said. "It's a mixed thing because Boomer had to sacrifice for positive change."
Harmon ordered 100 aluminum poles with wire loops at the end used to restrain dogs around the neck , and officers will be trained in using them. If a vicious dog call prompts police response, the deployed officer will be armed with the pole.
This is not the first time Harmon has responded to a dog killing with a policy change. After a September 2010 shooting that killed two leashed dogs, Harmon mandated that officers go through two hours of training with the SPCA.
But only three-fourths of officers received the training and Swanson was not one of them, Harmon said Wednesday.
Harmon said he does not expect the changes to make a dramatic difference in the department's dog shooting statistics, but it will help. In the past 10 years, police have shot 54 dogs.
"In looking at those cases, only a handful would have ended differently if we had the new policy and equipment in place," Harmon said. "But one's maybe enough."
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