“They are not weapons”. PAN wants regular use of dogs by police

O people-Animal-Nature party (PAN) wants to regulate the use of dogs in police operations and received, this Wednesday, in the Assembly of the Republic, the draft resolution “Dogs are not weapons: for a police intervention that respects animal welfare”. 

In a statement sent to the editorials, the party explains that this “initiative recommends to the Government the limitation of the use of dogs by security forces in public policy maintenance or replacement operations involving demonstrations, concentrations or other public meetings and the regulation of their detention by military and public security forces”, such as the Republican National Guard (GNR) and the Public Security Police (PSP).

“For the NAP, dogs cannot be used as instruments of intimidation, threat, containment or dispersion of people who are peacefully exercising their constitutional right to assembly and demonstration. The presence of these animals in contexts of high tension, marked by noise, agitation and confrontations, can trigger unpredictable situations, increase fear and insecurity and contribute to an escalation of violence, which undermines the safety of people and the well-being and physical integrity of animals ", said the spokesman of the party, Inês Sousa Real, quoted in the note. 

The draft resolution follows recent police interventions in protests for the right to housing in Lisbon and Porto, during which the PAN “has expressed concern about the use of dogs with demonstrators”.

In this sense, the party considers it “urgent to set clear limits to this practice while protecting the fundamental rights of the people and the welfare of the animals involved”.

“ It is not intended to call into question the work carried out by the security forces' cynotechnic units whose role of dogs in specialized search and rescue missions, the location of missing persons and the detection of narcotics, explosives and other substances or objects is recognised and should be valued. But we cannot read a lack of regulation that undermines the welfare of these animals, which risk their own lives without hesitation in the different missions or interventions of everyday life,” adds Inês Sousa Real.

The party also supports its position with the recommendation of international organisations, which advocates the non-use of dogs for riot control, containment or dispersion of demonstrations. 

In this sense, the NAP considers that it is necessary to fill the regulatory void that exists and to establish clear rules limiting the use of dogs in these contexts, focusing on strategies for prevention and dialogue or recourse to other means available to security forces.

The party also intends to strengthen the legal framework for the protection of dogs in the service of security forces, considered by Decree-Law No 314/2003 of 17 December, which approved the National Programme for the fight and epidemiological surveillance of animal rabies and other zoonoses (PNLVERAZ), as “Animal for military or police purposes”, but whose other legislation is missing from these animals.

“ There is an increased duty, by virtue of the service these animals also provide to the country, by integrating military forces, police and even voluntary civil protection organizations, to ensure that there are rules that safeguard their well-being, periods of rest, accommodation, health care and even retirement. Their work cannot represent a reduction in the legal protection that is due to them and protection and well-being. It is precisely because we recognize the importance of the cynotechnic units that we defend clear rules to ensure that these animals are not put in unnecessary risk or suffering situations,” said Inês Sousa Real.