This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Whether your dog or your child is more important in someone's eyes is not the issue. The issue is that a police officer used very poor judgment that led to shooting someone's pet.
Let's look at the circumstances. A toddler was reported missing. How long he'd been absent is not clear to me, but given that he was found sleeping in the basement he mustn't have been "gone" long. Did the officer involved help search the house thoroughly before he ventured off into the neighborhood? Maybe that would have helped find the child quicker.
Was there any evidence that the toddler had entered this backyard where the dog was killed? It was gated and fenced and a toddler would likely have a hard time negotiating that. Again, given that the child was found sleeping in the basement, there was no trail of bread crumbs leading to the backyard.
Did the officer knock at the door of the house, ring the bell, knock at the gate, or shout out at the gate? Any of these would have alerted most dogs and they would have started barking, indicating a possible "threat."
Was the officer trying to be stealthy entering the yard, suspecting something nefarious? Again, given the end result, I guess there was no evidence of any nefarious activity. And isn't this still trespassing unless a warrant is issued?
This seems to have been a knee-jerk reaction to a missing child (who wasn't really missing) and no logic or common sense was employed by any of the parties involved. Let's not argue whether my sheltie is better than your honor student. Let's correct this lack of common sense and at least try to train people better.
Brad Swedlund
Salt Lake City