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The Police Review Commission could sign off Wednesday on a controversial plan to welcome two German shepherds to the Berkeley Police Department—the first crime fighting dogs in the city since the 1930s. 

“I thought we were going to reject it, but now I’m not so sure,” said Chairperson Jon Sternberg, one of four commissioners to publicly oppose a police department proposal to establish a canine unit. 

Police want the German shepherds to help them track down armed suspects hiding in cordoned off blocks or buildings and to help them search for missing people.  

With a decision scheduled for Wednesday’s commission meeting, opponents need one more vote to stop the plan in its tracks. Otherwise it heads to the council with the blessing of the commission responsible for reviewing police conduct. 

Four commission members (David Ritchie, appointed by Linda Maio, Jack Radisch, appointed by Betty Olds, Lucienne Sanchez Resnik, appointed by Miriam Hawley and Michael Sherman, appointed by Dona Spring) are believed to be leaning toward support of the proposal, while a fifth member, Annie Chung, the appointee of Mayor Tom Bates, is a wild card. 

“I think she’s feeling pressured to vote yes, but I heard she might abstain or not even show up,” said one person close to the commission. Chung could not be reached for comment. 

Bates supports the canine unit, but said he hasn’t given Chung marching orders for the crucial vote. Without the support of the commission, Bates doubted the City Council would even take up the proposal. “As far as I’m concerned if the PRC votes against it, it’s over,” he said. 

That the PRC would even consider sending dogs on patrol has infuriated some of its members. “I think it’s a sin. We have so little money, how can we rather spend it on dog food than food for seniors,” said Commissioner Jacqueline DeBose, an appointee of Maudelle Shirek. DeBose is joined in opposition to the canine proposal by Chairman Sternberg, appointed by Margaret Breland, William White, appointed by Gordon Wozniak, and Michael Sheen, appointed by Kriss Worthington. “The PRC should be ashamed,” DeBose added. “I don’t know how anyone can not remember Bull Connor sending the dogs on marchers in Alabama. It wasn’t that long ago.” 

BPD Capt. Stephanie Fleming has tried to allay fears. The dogs, she said, would be trained to bark, not bite, and would never be used for crowd control or demonstrations. 

“These are ‘bark and hold’ dogs,” she said. “They’re not the same as what some other police departments are using.” 

“Bark and hold” was popularized in the 1990s to help cities fend off liability lawsuits against dog bite victims, said Peace Officer Standards and Training Senior Law Enforcement Consultant Mario Rodriguez.  

According to Rodriguez, dogs are trained to corner a suspect, then bark and growl at him until the officer arrives. He said the key to the program is the skill of the officers handling the dogs.  

The new method has made canine units more palatable for several Bay Area cities, including Oakland and San Francisco, which both reintroduced units to positive reviews since Berkeley’s ban. 

“We catch so many guys we otherwise wouldn’t have and they really do find kids in the woods,” said Oakland Police Lieutenant Lawrence Green. 

Currently when a situation calls for a dog—about 25 times per year—the BPD must contact Oakland, BART or Richmond canine units. Depending on the availability, said retired BPD Lieutenant Bud Stone, help arrives hours late or not at all. 

“It’s a huge pain,” he said. “I’ve sat for hours at locations waiting for Richmond dogs. When they weren’t available we had to send the SWAT team in blind.” 

Most cities the size of Berkeley have a canine unit, including liberal communities like Santa Monica and Santa Cruz, police said. Police insist that shepherds are best suited to handle the varied types of police work Berkeley requires. 

Berkeley did away with police dogs in the 1930s as a cost-cutting measure. Various efforts to reintroduce dogs were met with sharp opposition that led to an outright ban in 1997, modified by the City Council in 1982 to allow use of other cities’ dogs in special circumstances.  

The current use of police dogs in Berkeley is one factor that has Commissioner Michael Sherman leaning in favor of the proposal. “If we’re going to have dogs, I’d rather use dogs that we have control over how they’re trained,” he said.  

Opponents of the plan dominated the floor at three public hearings held earlier this year by the PRC. Police counter that most neighborhood watch groups and neighborhood organizations polled have voiced support for a canine unit. 

The current proposal was hatched during a 2002 meeting between Mayor Tom Bates and the Berkeley Police Association, said Lt. Dennis Ahearn at the first public hearing. 

Berkeley police would use $30,000 from a county forfeiture fund that typically goes towards equipment to start up the program. The dogs and their two BPD handlers would undergo up to 380 hours of state certified training. Annual upkeep is estimated at $15,000. 

When it comes to addressing civilian fears, “bark and hold” dogs seem to excel. Kevin Allen, director of the San Francisco Office of Civilian Complaints said his office had received one dog bite complaint in the last three years. 

That doesn’t mean a canine unit doesn’t pose some financial risk for the city, said Dave Schlosser, a former New York Police Department Canine Unit detective, who said he gets 15 calls a year to testify against cities in police dog bite cases. 

“More times than not someone is going to get bit,” he said. “If the guy just stops, the dog just barks, but if he runs, the dog’s going to run and the dog’s going to bite, and if the guy tries to free himself, the dog’s going to bite harder.” 

Bruce Praet, a former canine officer, who now defends cities from police dog bite suits, said he negotiates about 10 settlements a year in the “$5,000 to $10,000” range for innocent bystanders accidentally bitten by police dogs. He predicted Berkeley would face about two such lawsuits per year. 

Those opposed to the plan stressed the city’s risk to liability lawsuits during a budget crunch. “These animals are going to take somebody’s job away,” said Berkeley attorney and former PRC Commissioner Jim Chanin who has represented police dog bite victims.  

“If [the police] do this, I’ll be watching and waiting,” he said. “They’ll use them at their peril.”›