COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – South Carolina lawmakers are taking a hard look at toughening up the penalties for people who kill police animals.
It’s happening so often that law enforcement leaders say these deaths are no longer a rarity.
Last year, six more law enforcement dogs across the state lost their lives.
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“To kill a police K9 is not merely the destruction of an animal or property.,” said Lt. Kevin Thrower of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division “It is the violent silencing of an officer’s life in the line of duty.”
Right now, a person convicted of killed a law enforcement dog or horse could spend up to five years behind bars.
Law enforcement officers say that’s not enough.
“Our current penalties send the wrong message, that these animals’ lives are expendable,” Thrower said. “That message is unacceptable.”
Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis said:
“These dogs do not hesitate. They don’t question danger. They just go. The least we can do is show them and their handlers the respect and legal protection they deserve.”
A bill advancing in the Senate would double the penalties for killing one of them.
It would impose a mandatory two-to-10-year prison sentence on a person convicted of willfully or maliciously torturing, mutilating, injuring, disabling, poisoning, or killing a law enforcement dog or horse.
People who taunt, torment, tease, beat, strike, or unlawfully drug a police animal could go to prison for up to five years.
“What they do for us, a lot of people don’t realize,” said Sen. Brian Adams, R-Berkeley, the bill’s lead sponsor.
Sheriffs, police chiefs, SLED, and one solicitor spoke in support of the proposed penalty increases Tuesday.
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said:
“They put their life on the line just like all of us who wear this uniform do the exact same thing.”
Some testified to senators that their colleagues joining them – or they themselves – wouldn’t be still alive if it weren’t for the work and sacrifices of these K9s.
{thrower} “Had they not been willing to go into those houses that day, I would not be speaking to this committee. … Let us not wait for another senseless tragedy to take action,” Thrower said.
The bill got its first two approvals Tuesday – and will next await a debate on the Senate floor.
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