Canine Handlers and College Student's Perceptions on K-9's Ability to De-escalate Violent Arrest Situations
Presenter(s)
Kathleen Maria Schumacher
Files
Description
Canine units are an expanding field in police departments as they are proving to be seen as valuable tools to the organizations. Canines possess multiple abilities and there is limited research completed to fully examine untapped potential. Recently there has been significant discussion on the use of force officers demonstrate in policing situations that has caused serious backlash on the law enforcement profession. The research issues being examined addresses exactly these types of situations and the impact canine units might contribute to resolve these issues. This research project is a mixed-methods approach that includes both quantitative and qualitative research. The quantitative approach includes a survey that was sent out to college students attending universities within the Midwest region and the qualitative approach includes interviews with police officers at local departments within the Midwest. Overall, the canine handlers perceived the use of canines to de-escalate violent arrest situations as positive as long as the canine is trained for the situation. The same conclusions resulted from college students’ responses when it comes to situations that occur within the public. However, when it relates to domestic situations, the college students disagreed with the use of canines to mitigate the scenario. In the end, canines have been proven as a solution to de-escalate violent arrest situations as long as they have completed the necessary training, but I would recommend researching this topic more with a higher interview response by officers.
Publication Date
4-22-2021
Project Designation
Capstone Project
Primary Advisor
Martha Hurley
Primary Advisor's Department
Criminal Justice Studies
Keywords
Stander Symposium project, College of Arts and Sciences
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
Recommended Citation
"Canine Handlers and College Student's Perceptions on K-9's Ability to De-escalate Violent Arrest Situations" (2021). Stander Symposium Projects. 2172.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/2172
