Friend –

Societies thrive when people feel safe. It is our job as a community to ensure our government is employing measures that support public safety rather than endangering it. Yet, California police still use the outdated, dangerous practice of attack dogs to threaten and brutally maul residents.

Will you take a moment right now to show your support for legislation that would limit the dangerous, unchecked use of attack dogs by California police?

Today, ACLU California Action is releasing a first-of-its-kind policy brief detailing the brutal and outdated use of police attack dogs. The report details:

• How police are using attack dogs to inflict serious injuries on people who do not pose a danger to officers or others.
• How police are using attack dogs to bite and threaten people experiencing a behavioral health crisis.
• How police use attack dogs to perpetrate racialized violence.
• How police cannot adequately control their attack dogs, who regularly maul bystanders and fail to stop attacking when recalled.
• How state law and police policies fail to provide accountability when individuals are harmed by their indiscriminate and unnecessary use.

Currently, there is no state law addressing how and when police unleash their dogs to bite and attack. Passing this legislation, AB 742, would be a first step in curtailing the brutal and inhumane practice.

We know that the use of attack dogs is rooted in slave patrols and that they were used to bite and attack peaceful protesters during the Civil Rights movement. Today, the vast majority of cases where attack dogs are unleashed are on Black men. Moreover, police frequently use attack dogs against people who are not accused of a "violent" crime and are suspected of only minor crimes or no crime at all.

With AB 742, we have the opportunity to create a mechanism to protect our communities from vicious harm and hold police accountable for the vicious use of attack dogs.

Please contact your lawmakers today to ask them to support accountability and community safety by voting to pass AB 742.

Thanks for taking action,

Carmen-Nicole Cox
Director of Government Affairs, ACLU California Action