Tom Donohoe, West Yorkshire Police’s Customer Contact Centre Manager, said: “The seizure of stray dogs became the responsibility of local authorities following a change to the law in 2008.
“In this instance, however, the caller explained that she thought the dog was dangerous and that it had tried to bite her. In such a situation police should have therefore responded.
“We take an average of 1,000 calls to the 999 number every day and the vast majority of them are dealt with appropriately - unfortunately on this occasion we fell below the extremely high standards we set ourselves.
“The call handler will receive extra training to ensure we learn from our mistakes.”
*hollow laughter*
She said: “Even on my insistence that this was an out-of-control and dangerous dog, and my emphasis that this dog was a danger for the public and may well go on and attack someone else who might be unfortunate enough to pass by, the police refused to accept responsibility and help.
“This left me feeling extremely angry and helpless. Not only was I standing there, with my bleeding dog in my arms and the aggressive dog still in sight, but in the knowledge that the police don’t care. Surely it is the responsibility of the police to keep the public safe?”
Yes. You’d think so. Wouldn't you?
No comments:
Post a Comment