COP DOGS TRAINED ON CRIME SUSPECTS.

It was not unusual for police dogs that were reluctant to bite to be set on suspected criminals in practice sessions, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday. "There is not a dog handler in South Africa who was not either personally involved in such an incident, an eyewitness, or at least knew about the practice," former handler Hannes Brits testified. "It has been going on for years." Brits was giving evidence in the trial of four men convicted of setting their police dogs on three illegal Mozambican immigrants in a 1998 "training exercise". Illegal aliens were usually the targets in such practice sessions, "as they are unlikely to complain to the authorities", he said. Brits also testified that "targets" were readily available in the late 1970's and early 1980's among black people found on the streets without their pass books. The court heard that some police dogs were reluctant to bite in attack situations as their training differed greatly from circumstances in real life. There were, however, several ways to teach dogs to bite. One such method included chasing a suspect with your dog on a leash, and then inciting him to attack while still holding on, Brits said. This method was usually practised on suspects "that you can see beforehand will not be able to run away", mostly people under the influence of alcohol, he told the court. It was also not done in public, as people might question why a dog was set on someone if the policeman was able to catch up with the suspect himself. If all else failed, Brits said, one would catch a suspect, take him to a remote spot, and call some colleagues to join you for a practice session. One would then let loose the reluctant dog to see if it bites. If not, more experienced dogs would be set on the suspect to teach the other animal how it was done. Should it then eventually attack, the dog was likely to "come right", Brits said. "This is known as tasting blood." Explaining the importance of a dog being able to attack, he said he and his former colleagues daily came face to face with hardened criminals who killed police members "for the joke". "To confront them with a dog that does not attack is like sending the Americans into Afghanistan without any firearms," Brits said. The court on Wednesday started to hear evidence in mitigation and aggravation of sentence for Jacobus Petrus Smith, Lodewyk Christiaan Koch, Robert Benjamin Henzen and Eugene Werner Truter. They were on Monday found guilty on three charges each of assault with the intent to do serious bodily harm. Henzen and ...