Page 99 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Winter 2014

In the current study, the most commonly reported cause Exertion and confinement heat injuries, while both giv-
of traumatic death to the CPWDA and ODMP online re- ing rise to similar clinical abnormalities, are caused by
sources for working dogs in law enforcement was due to different physiologic and situational conditions. Thus,
injuries caused by motor vehicle accidents (MVAs). Stud- risk factors as well as preventive measures for each will
ies that have investigated causes of trauma in pet dogs likely vary considerably. Further research and identifica-
have found that MVAs were frequent causes of trauma tion of the potential factors involved may help reveal
and fatalities. 16–18 Kolata and Johnston published an specific risk factors and, thus, more specific means to
16
article investigating injuries in 600 dogs involved in mitigate them.
MVAs in which the dog was struck by a vehicle. Overall,
12.5% of the dogs died or were euthanized as a result The third most commonly reported cause of traumatic
of their injuries. A more recent study reported 91.1% death to the CPWDA and ODMP for working dogs was
of the canine blunt trauma cases investigated were the as a result of the penetrating ballistic trauma of GSW.
result of an MVA. The mortality rate associated with Very few studies have looked at the occurrence of bal-
18
severe blunt trauma was determined to be 12%. listic trauma in working dogs. A study by Baker et al
7
investigated 29 cases of GSW injury in military working
Law enforcement dogs could be at risk for injury and even dogs between 2003 and 2009 and reported a survival
death caused by a motor vehicle due to their job require- rate of 38%. According to this study, the most common
ments (e.g. apprehending and tracking suspects). This site for injury appeared to be the thorax and extremi-
could make the dogs more vulnerable than the normal ties. Fifty-nine percent of the dogs were categorized
dog population. In situations where a suspect attempts as killed in action (KIA). Although, extremity wounds
to evade capture, the dog will pursue the suspect, which were found to be the second most common injury loca-
could involve running through urban and suburban areas tion, all of the dogs that had extremity wounds as their
with moderate to high traffic levels. Although the mortal- only injury survived. All dogs that received wounds to
ity rates involving dogs struck by vehicles were reported the neck or abdomen died as a result of the injuries. In
in previously published studies for the normal popula- the cases with abdominal wounds, all of the dogs had
tion, 16,18 these data are not available for working dogs. additional life-threatening injuries; however, it was de-
termined that the cause of death was not the abdominal
Approximately one quarter of the current study’s popu- wound. In a combat scenario, extremity wounds in hu-
lation reportedly died from heatstroke. In working dogs, mans can cause significant blood loss and were found to
heatstroke may be due to many factors, none of which be one of the leading causes of death. In dogs, however,
are well documented in the scientific literature. How- this does not appear to be the case, perhaps due to scant
ever, it is generally accepted that lack of acclimation to muscle in the extremity of a dog compared to a human. 7
hot environments or hard work, sudden changes in en-
vironmental temperature or workload, and confinement Currently there are no studies listing the frequency of fa-
in hot vehicles all play major roles in fatal heatstroke tal GSWs in law enforcement working dogs. According
in working dogs. The majority of the heatstroke cases to data from 2012 collected by the National Law En-
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with known cause in this study could be classified as forcement Memorial Fund, there were 49 police officers
confinement heat injury. The two causes of confinement (38.6%) killed with a firearm; this was the second lead-
heat injury were attributed to the handler becoming dis- ing cause of death in on-duty police officers. Working
20
tracted or delayed and unintentionally leaving the dog dogs are exposed to the same risks and are sometimes
in the patrol vehicle or the patrol car alarm malfunc- sent into situations ahead of the law enforcement of-
tioned. With canine units, it is rather common in many ficers (e.g., when assisting SWAT teams) to locate and
situations to leave the dog in the patrol car while the alert their team of hazards, to add protection to the of-
engine and the air conditioning are running. There are ficers. The current data show that 23% of the dogs were
times when the car will be more comfortable and cooler reportedly killed or euthanized as a result of GSWs,
than the ambient temperature and it tends to be a good which is slightly lower than that reported for their hu-
place for the dog to cool down and rest. Alarm systems man counterparts in 2012.
are available that will sound the horn, call, page, or
otherwise alert the officer, and roll down the windows All ballistic cases in this study were further investigated
if the interior temperature of the car exceeds a certain with additional online sources, since the majority of
threshold. This alerts officers and allows additional air the incidents were well documented by the media. Ac-
circulation in the car. However, these systems can mal- cording to media reporting, it appears that 38.4% of
function. Of the heatstroke cases with known causes, the ballistic cases were on-duty hostile shootings (Table
35.9% were reportedly caused by alarm systems that 2). The remaining cases involved friendly fire (31.5%)
malfunctioned and did not alert the officers that the in- and hostile shooting that occurred off duty (30.1%).
terior of the car had reached dangerous temperatures. The friendly fire cases can be further broken down into

Canine Deaths in Civilian Law Enforcement Service 89