After the final review of the Des Moines Police shooting of Rosie, a Newfoundland dog, was made public many citizens spoke out expressing their anger and distrust of the police department.
Vicki Daniels, speaking to the Des Moines Council on Thursday night (Feb. 10) told the council, “the police department and the city’s elected need to know we still expect accountability.” She described the whole process as a dog and pony show.
Daniels said she felt like justice was never the intent, but that the investigations and reviews that were done came back with self-serving results to cover up the police department’s complacency.
The third party review by Pierce County Animal Control’s Manager Tim Anderson was the final review into the shooting death of Rosie by the City. The review by the PCAC is not a criminal investigation, nor was it looking at whether Des Moines policies and protocol had been followed.
The Pierce County Animal Control (PCAC) came back with a recommendation that police officers receive animal control training but the officers did not inappropriately when dealing with Rosie, given their perception she was a dangerous animal.
An internal investigation, shooting review and shooting review came back in support of the officers’ actions and a review of the case by the King County Prosecutor found no criminal culpability in the actions of the officers.
“I feel like the issue is being buried, and we are being lied to,” Cindy Ruud said to the council. “There is no trust, there’s no integrity and there’s no credibility anymore.”
She said the review from PCAC did not answer the question of whether or not the officer’s actions were within Des Moines Police Department Policy. She said she is still waiting on a third party review that answers that question.
Interim Chief O’Leary said officers are already receiving more animal control training and the department has invested in new equipment to help officers retrieving animals in the field.
He also said one of the Des Moines community service officers is undergoing training through the Washington Animal Control Association (WACA) so there is another officer in the field with broader animal control knowledge.
The city is also reaching out to other jurisdictions to share animal control officers, O’Leary said.
Des Moines currently only has one animal control officer, Jan Magnuson, and when she is off duty, like the day Rosie was shot, regular officers answer the animal control calls.
“I believe the steps we are taking are positive and sincere,” O’Leary said.
He made clear though while he wishes to limit the use of lethal force on animals that no changes in policy and no new equipment will prevent an incident of lethal force from happening in the future.
Animal attorney Adam Karp is expected to file a lawsuit today(Friday Feb. 11) against police officers involved in the shooting, on behalf of Rosie’s owners Deirdre and Chuck Wright.