
Regarding “A death years before dog shot” (Page A-1, May 7):
The incident in Wyckoff regarding the police officer protecting himself against a dog that was doing its job to protect the property is unfortunate.
The dog owners are distraught, and the police officer, who really had no other choice, must be beside himself. I think the most unfortunate thing is that The Record now has run an article about something the officer was involved in while working in Newark.
That has nothing to do with the Wyckoff incident, and even the dog owners agree. What’s even more disturbing is the mayor of Wyckoff buckling to public outcry. If this were a child being bitten by this dog because a ball went over the fence and the child went in the yard to retrieve it, the officer would have been a hero.
I think having a window open to allow a dog to go in and out of a house poses a problem itself, especially in terms of liability for the homeowner. That could be an issue if an ordinary citizen were involved in this incident, and not a cop.
Patrick Elwood
( Patrick Elwood is a Ridgewood PD patrol officer )
Hawthorne, May 7
I didn’t realize, Officer Elwood, that you witnessed the incident, because according to statement in which you say the police officer “really had no other choice”, it appears that you saw it all. I hope that you provide this important testimony to whoever is in charge of officially reviewing the incident.
So it’s the homeowners fault Patrick? Cops are held to a higher standeard. No excuses. So stop apologizing and making excuses for bad behavior.
There is so much wrong with your editorial I don’t know where to begin.
It was a fenced in yard and the policeman was a stranger. He had a choice: run. Get the hell out of the yard. Or would that be too detrimental to the tough guy image?
Are you saying that people should not allow their dogs to roam their fenced in yards now? The dogs should be confined to the house? Is there a particular room inside the house where the dog should be sequestered?
Your fantasy about the cop saving a child from a fierce beast holds no water. If the kid was from the neighborhood, the dog would have known him. If there was a trespasser in the yard, then good.
I only hope, officer Elwood, that when you find a group of kids smoking a joint behind starbucks some night, and they all scatter, you realize that you do have a choice other than to shoot the slower ones.
Elwood doesn’t get it. What does that say about the Ridgewood PD if his views are pervasive?
Officer Elwood. I’m going to tell you why you are wrong and why perceptions are very important.
Firstly, I am generally pro-police. I think this is how the majority of the public feel. However, there’s a side to the police that irks many, and you have demonstrated this side. It’s the circling of the wagons mentality in your description of the events at this incident, which you have no more insight into that anyone else who was not there. I understand the whole band of brothers sense of camaraderie, but when it comes to incidents of police officers discharging a firearm, and that incident is still in the review stage, you have no business making public statements about what happened. It’s this very kind of public statement that gives the general public a very low opinion of how the police, police themselves. As for the previous incident, yes, this is noteworthy. It possibly indicates issues of the officer’s ability to self-manage his anxiety levels during moments of stress.
What I don’t understand is what people think the POlice Officer should do. A German Shepherd as the 2nd most forceful bite of any dog – 235 lb per square inch. That’s enough to break bones in the leg, ankle or foot.
Soto replay this scenario, an 85 lb dog has your foot in his mouth. Being 4 -legged the dog can move, laterally, faster than an upright human – especially if he has the human’s foot in his mouth! SO exactly what is it that you think the Officer should have, or could have, done? Better yet, if this had been you, what would you have done?
Get a grip Tim. Why this incessant need to make excuses for bad behavior? The police officer should learn to defend himself without deadly force, or retreat in the face of a German Shepherd. Or he shouldn’t be on the force.
A stun gun would have safely resolved the situation.
Looks like the police union is out with its “facts and figures” to try and muddy the water to distract attention away from the real issues here: 1) This was an 85 lb German Shepherd with the 2nd most forceful bite of any dog – 235 lb per square inch. That’s enough to break bones in the leg, ankle or foot; and 2) having a window open to allow a dog to go in and out of a house into a fenced backyard poses a problem itself, especially in terms of liability for the homeowner. Guess the union hasn’t learned anything from the recent human deaths in Staten Island, Ferguson, Georgia, South Carolina or Baltimore.
8:29 a.m. You don’t get it. The types of people on the police force would not join the police force in the first place if they could not use deadly force.
They love the implied threat when they strut down the streets.
Why do cops in Bergen county even carry firearms? More people were killed by police in the U.S. just in March this year than were killed by cops in the U.K. in the entire 100 years of the 20th century
Police bashing is very trendy these days.
He went there by mistake, on an official call. He did not go there to kill a dog.
It was an unfortunate event. Why can’t civilians understand a tragic mistake?
So if it had been a 10 year old kid who’d surprised the cop by accident in the backyard and got killed as a result, would that also just be “an unfortunate event”? How many tragic mistakes are civilians supposed to understand?
wow 2:39 – are you truly that stupid?
Of course no one would call killing a 10 year old kid “just an unfortunate accident”, because no one would equate those two events….except for maybe you… who apparently cannot distinguish between a human life and an the life of an animal.
The police have been making “unfortunate mistakes” for as long as I can remember. Killing unarmed college kids protesting the Vietnam Wars.
Killing unarmed black people during racial protests. They still haven’t learned. You know what : they cannot be trusted with a gun.
New Firearm law should be: Those who work for the police force should not be allowed to carry firearms.
815….you are a pathetic moron…yes the police officers are not going to carry a weapon…brilliant. When the bad guy is in your living room with an AK who are you going to call? Your liberal neighbor? Dope….
Lots of AKs in Wykoff then 1:32? How about only let cops carry tranqulisers? They seem to know how to subdue bears and coyotes in Vergen, but a German Shepherd merits deadly force? Seems like you are the pathetic moron suggesting bad guys with AKs in our living rooms. This isn’t Russia or Kabul. Cops need to relearn how to “police” not like paramilitary assholes