We know about Racial Profiling, but now Police are Profiling our Family Pets and Executing Them on Our Own Property.

Monroe County, N.Y. Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn.

Photo of Diablo laying in his driveway after being shot
in the back of his head and executed by Monroe County, N.Y.
Sheriff's deputies Shaun LeClair and Matt Clancy.

By Davy V.

When it comes to police profiling the pitbull breed of dogs, one can't help but to think of the similarities with the most common profiling that law enforcement commonly engages in- racial profiling.

Take for instance, the June 1, 2012 Monroe County, N.Y. Sheriff's department execution style killing of an innocent, loving family pitbull in the small Town of Penfield, a suburb of Rochester, New York.

While at first Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn said his deputies were responding to a home for a call about a house party, the story changed less than 48 hours later, to that deputies were there for an illegally parked car.

Once there, two Monroe County Sheriff's deputies shot at least four rounds at the family's 7 year old pitbull, Diablo, with at least one of those rounds penetrating through the home's garage door, ricocheting off the cement floor then going through a garage window, nearly missing a house next door.

When the homeowner came outside, he saw several Monroe County Sheriff's deputies standing in his driveway, and his dog Diablo, laying in a pool of his own blood.

Unfortunately, this is not the first case where local law enforcement has shot and killed innocent pets. In fact in a recent newspaper article a couple of years ago, Rochester, New York, per capita, lead New York State with the most police shootings of dogs. Since 2009, the Rochester, New York Police department alone, has shot 78 dogs, killing 30. In most cases people's pets have been shot and killed on their own property.

And, it's what has many people making the eerie comparison to the equivalent of racial profiling, and what I have chosen to call "breed profiling."

Let's, for a moment look at what racial profiling is. Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement (e.g. make a traffic stop or arrest). The practice is controversial and is illegal in some nations.

Now, certainly, at first look, one can argue that no such similarities exist, and therefore, no comparison can be made.

I beg to differ.

Police on the streets commonly use racial profiling. It's a part of their everyday job. It's intertwined and woven into the fabric of their job, which is in many ways to "be on the lookout for" a "certain look", in most cases, that "look" happens to be an individual's race. A police officer, for example, will see an African-American or Latino individual walking in an affluent, mostly white suburb and he or she will automatically "profile" this person based on nothing more than their perception or belief that the individual walking "doesn't belong in that area." The police officer will then stop that person based solely on his or her race, that's racial profiling.

Now, how, you may ask can I transfer that same "profiling" to an animal? Well, very easy. Just as police officers commonly practice racial profiling, they also are trained, and being instructed whether they admit it or not, to profile and kill pitbulls.

And, just as police officers have executed innocent, unarmed African-Americans and Latinos, they are quick to do the same when comes to pitbulls, just because they are pitbulls.

Just as 14 year old Craig Heard, a scared, unarmed, African-American teen cornered in a dead end street was shot shot twice in the head and executed by Rochester, New York Police officers Serge Savitcheff and Hector Padgham, while a white man,  David Salmon, got into a shootout with Fairport, New York Police in his home, but is alive to tell about it, there is no question that police treat situations competely differently based on race.

And, there is no question or doubt that had that innocent, loving family dog in Penfield, the same dog that neighbors have described as "one of the most friendliest dogs ever", had been a Cocker Spaniel, or Poodle, he would be alive today.

So, as a society, we don't only have to worry about racial profiling, where an individual, based solely on his or her race can be subject to police misconduct, brutality, or even killed by an an racist, overzeaolus cop, but we now also have to worry about our family pets, mainly pitbulls, being singled out by trigger happy cops, and being executed on our own property.


Update: On Friday June 15, 2012 Monroe County, N.Y. Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn, intentionally waiting for the weekend, announced that his deputies were justified in shooting and killing Diablo.

O'Flynn said, "They responded to the threat of the dog when it came out of the garage when they were up by the house and approached in an extremely aggressive manner and discharged the weapons as they're trained."


Update: On Friday June 15, 2012 Monroe County, N.Y. Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn, intentionally waiting for the weekend, announced that his deputies were justified in shooting and killing Diablo.

O'Flynn said, "They responded to the threat of the dog when it came out of the garage when they were up by the house and approached in an extremely aggressive manner and discharged the weapons as they're trained."


Currently, Police in New York State are trained to kill dogs as if they were a "sharp edged" object. Basically, this means police are trained to treat innocent pets like they were a "knife wielding suspect", and shoot to kill them!


Call or Email Republican New York State Senator Joseph E. Robach and tell him how you feel about the injustice that was done to Diablo, an innocent family pet executed by trigger happy Monroe County, N.Y. Sheriff's deputies Shaun LeClair and Matt Clancy! 

Joseph E. Robach
2300 W. Ridge Road
Rochester, NY 14626
Phone: (585) 225-3650
Email address: robach@nysenate.gov

Please Sign my Petition asking the Humane Society of Rochester, NY to Remove Monroe County, N.Y. Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn from their Board of Directors!

https://www.change.org/petitions/humane-society-of-rochester-new-york-remove-monroe-county-n-y-sheriff-patrick-o-flynn-from-your-board

Call or Email the Humane Society/Lollylop Farm of Rochester, N.Y.  and tell them to remove Monroe County, N.Y. Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn from their Board of Directors!


Humane Society of Rochester, N.Y.  (585) 223-1330 or email: info@lollypop.org



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