Dog Shooting Leads to Police Reform

St. Petersburg Police will no longer respond to dog complaints unless the animal poses an "imminent threat" to another person, Chief Mike Harmon announced Wednesday at a press conference.

Officers also will receive two hours of animal-control training and the use of catch poles to help contain dogs without having to confront or handle them.

They are under orders not to shoot at a dog unless the animal is an immediate danger to a person.

The dispatch and firearm policy are in effect immediately, while the training and distribution of 100 catch poles will take place early next year.

Harmon disclosed the new rules when he released findings Wednesday afternoon from an internal review into the .

Harmon said that a police review board found that Officer Misty Swanson, 25, was jusitified when she shot Boomer at close range on Oct. 3. Swanson had responded to an animal complaint at 445 20th Avenue N.E.

Roy Glass, the dog's owner, called the chief's finding "outrageous"  and "a typical whitewash."

"My family and others are disgusted with the Internal Affairs conclusion," said Glass, an attorney. "This is not an issue that will pass without more searching inquiry and positive, constructive change we will be pursuing."

At the same time, Glass said he was "heartened" that the police department was changing its written policies in response to the fatal shooting of Boomer.

An and the launch of a Facebook page about the Oct. 3 incident led to a flood of local complaints and a national petition drive urging improved training for officers responding to animal complaints.

Officer Swanson fatally shot Boomer after answering a complaint from homeowner Bridgitte Williams about a Golden Retriever in her yard in the Old Northeast neighborhood.

When Sawnson arrived Boomer was lying down on the front porch of the home. The woman said the dog had mounted her boxer an hour earlier, bared his teeth when she tried to peer at the tag on his collar, and then refused to leave.

The police officer shot Boomer at close range after unsuccessfully trying to get the animal to jump into the back seat of her patrol car. In a police report after the incident, she said that Boomer had "lunged" at her.

Glass questioned why police would "shoot a family pet," and said that Boomer never hurt anyone.

Boomer, who was on medication for arthritis and a thyroid condition, had wandered away from his home after pushing through a broken gate. The Glass family lives one street away from where the shooting took place.

Harmon said Wednesday that the new policy will eliminate police officers from going on calls like the one that brought Swanson to the Old Northeast neighborhood after midnight.

Harmon explained that he is a dog owner and considers himself “someone that cares about their animal.”

"This was someone's family pet," Harmon said of Boomer. "And at the end of the day, if we had the right equipment the dog didn't need to die," he told WTSP-Ch. 10.

Acknowledging the fact that most dogs do not become aggressive until they feel threatened, police officers who have tried the catch pole say it allows for them to keep a respectful distance from an animal they do not know.

On Wednesday, Glass vowed to keep pushing for reform at the St. Pete Police Department and also statewide. He wants to see new laws that would enable  owners to seek compensation for emotional damages when they feel that their pet has been wrongfully killed.

He noted that the fatal shooting of Boomer is not the first time city police were accused of overreacting by shooting a dog. In 2010, an officer shot and killed two dogs on leashes.

"This is not an issue that will pass without more searching inquiry and positive, constructive change we will be pursuing," he said.