Dogs are people too
 
OSLO, Norway – The Norwegian Supreme Court has ruled that police dogs are public servants, making an assault on a police dog as serious as an attack on any police officer.

When police tried to arrest a 29-year-old man caught breaking into an apartment, Caspar, the police dog on duty, gave chase and collared the suspect. However, in his effort to escape, the suspect began kicking and punching the dog. The man was charged not only for the break-in, but also with assaulting a police officer – in this case, Casper.

Two lower courts dismissed the assault charge, saying the offence applied only to human officers. But the Supreme Court disagreed, and ordered a new trial. “The concept of assault must also be used to cover assault on a police dog that is being used to help the police,” the court ruled. “An attack on a police dog must be judged on the same basis as an attack on a public servant.”

Prosecutor Elisabeth Deinboll said she was pleased with the ruling. “Police dogs work on orders from police officers, so violence against a police dog is the same as violence against an officer,” she told Norway’s largest newspaper, Verdens Gang.

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