Police Service Dog (PSD) bites are the leading cause of injury at the hands of municipal police in BC. After receiving complaints from a number of people who have been bitten, we began working toward significant reforms. In 2017, we published Moving To Minimum Force: Police Dogs and Public Safety in British Columbia, a research report based on in-depth case studies from Pivot ‘s client base, as well as case law and statistical data provided by the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner (OPCC) and the RCMP.

After Moving Toward Minimum Force, Pivot’s report on the serious injuries caused by the deployment of police service dogs in British Columbia was released in 2014, the provincial government issued Canada’s first-ever guidelines for the use of police dogs. The guidelines call for changes to deployment practices, as well as uniform training practices and record keeping for police dog use.