Law Enforcement K-9 Support
CJ 292: Methods of Criminal Justice Research
Michigan State University

The employment of canines in law enforcement has increased in popularity around the country since departments have been stipulated to operate with less deadly uses of force (Smith, 2000). In the court cases Robinette vs. Barnes and Matthew vs. Jones, it was decreed that “dogs often can help prevent officers from having to resort to, or be subjected to, such force …” A dog is considered less than deadly force, yet still manages to get the job done efficiently. The usage of the animals offer critical skills we need, beyond those of humans, to solve problems and keep communities safe. The history of canines partnering with law enforcement dates back as far as two thousand years ago. Although they have sprung up in some very populous metropolitan areas, usage across the country in the twentieth century was minimal (National Law Enforcement Museum, 2012). The need for patrol dogs snowballed after San Diego officers shot twenty two suspects after an altercation in 1990. After twelve of the suspects died, the public was outraged and demanded a change in policy (Smith, 2000). Many departments’ K-9s are sworn in as officers. Each dog is furnished with its own, official, police badge. As a sworn officer, the dog is also equipped with a bullet proof vest. Besides keeping the community safe, the dog is also capable of protecting the officer in dangerous situations. People who assault police officers are more harshly punished than they would be if they were to assault a citizen. The same happens if a police dog is intentionally harmed or killed. In the unfortunate case that a police dog is killed in the line of duty, they are given a full police funeral just as a human police officer would be given. Different tasks involve different dogs that have different strengths and skills than other dogs. Bloodhounds are used in search and rescue missions to locate suspects or missing people. In airports, beagles are used to sniff through baggage because they are very friendly and people are rarely scared of a beagle’s appearance. Some breeds can even pick up traces of accelerants used in arsons. Cadaver dogs can smell a decomposing body, even if the body is in a large accumulation of water. K-9s are not limited to just these assignments or these breeds. There is a wide variety of dogs used for many different jobs. At the Michigan State University Police Department, there were eight K-9s employed in 2012. With over two hundred fifty nine calls for service, ninety-four being tracks, the K-9 team resulted in a total of thirty-four additional arrests(“Canine Unit”, 2012). With an increase in popularity and effectiveness of K-9 units, it must be asked: are there any parties opposed to the supplemented enforcement? Is there a correlation between age and the support of K-9 units? Do females tend to support K-9s more than males or vice versa?
Current Study In the United States the highest amount of crime is committed by persons between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four. A person seventeen to twenty-one years old is seventy percent more likely to commit a violent crime than someone aged sixty five and older (Perkins, 1997). According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2011, men were charged with 6,299,269 offenses. Women, on the other hand, had a part in 2,203,165 charged offenses. Men accounted for almost three times as many crimes as women in one year (FBI, 2012). A person that is heavy in crime would likely not be favorable to innovative law enforcement methods such as canine tracking that can lead to higher arrest rates. Based on these statements, a hypothesis is generated that men more than women, and people within the ages of seventeen to twenty-four would be less supportive of the implementation and maintenance of a K-9 unit within a police department. In order to determine the relationship between age and support or gender and support a study must be carried out. To test the hypothesis, a survey was handed out to fifty people. Their responses were gathered and data was produced based on their submitted answers.
Sample
With over three hundred million people, it is very difficult to collect data from the entire country of the United States. Instead, the survey was distributed to people on the streets in southeast Michigan. There were no biases in handing out the surveys. All that was required was literacy. Fifty surveys were dispersed, but only twenty were returned. There was a wide variety of people polled. Many different races encompassed the results including Whites, African Americans, native Americans, and Hispanics. Age was also not a biasing factor. People from fourteen years old to fifty-four years old were included in the study.
Measures
To make the survey functional, it must be able to measure the support of the surveyed participants when it comes to K-9 involvement. Two questions were weighted heavily on their responses. One question asks if participants think K-9 units were a waste of money, and another asks if K-9s were effective preventatives of crime. Support is based on whether the questionnaire answers ‘agree’ or ‘strongly agree’ on the statement “K-9 units are effective preventatives within a police department". For the second question, support is based on whether the respondent replies ‘no’ to the question “Are K-9 units a waste of money”. The surveys were organized into men and women, and a second group divided by ages under seventeen years old, seventeen to twenty-four years of age, and twenty-four years and older. In order to determine if there is any correlation between age and support, or gender and support, a chi-square test was executed. A chi-square test contrasts what responses were observed in the study conducted, and what responses were expected to be observed if there was no association between age and support, or gender and support.
Results
In order to understand what the study discovers, we need to review the answers of the two questions measuring support. When participants were asked how heavily they agreed or disagreed with the preventiveness of K-9 units, three respondents strongly agreed with the statement. Thirteen participants agreed that they are effective preventatives, two respondents replied ‘disagree’ and two replied ‘neutral’. If we use the standard that the answers ‘agree’ and ‘strongly agree’ convey support for K-9s and answers of ‘disagree’ and ‘strongly disagree’ do not support K-9 units then we recognize, overall, sixteen agreed, two disagreed, and the remaining two were objective on the subject. Of the sixteen that agreed with the statement, nine were women and six were between the ages of seventeen and twenty-four. There was little discrepancy between gender on answering whether they agreed or disagreed with the effectiveness of prevention K-9s have on crime. When answering the question of whether they believe K-9 units are a waste of money, eighty percent answered ‘no’. All ten of the women surveyed did not believe the implementation was a waste of money but four of the men did. Six of those who responded no, i.e., they are not a waste of money, were between the ages of seventeen and twenty-four. But, the question remains, is there enough information to determine a relationship between age or gender and support? Using a chi-square test, the sum of discrepancy needed to show a relationship would have to be more significant that 0.05. When it comes to people aged seventeen to twenty-four, the sum of discrepancy is 0.39 when used with the question of effective preventiveness. If we use the chi-square of age with the question of whether they think K-9 units are a waste of money the sum of discrepancy is 0.18. Although this is more significant than 0.39, it is not significant enough to show a strong relationship. Is gender more likely to produce a difference in support? Using the chi-square test with gender and K-9 effectiveness, the result is 0.49. Much larger than the needed 0.05 to be a significant association. If we were to use the answers of seventeen to twenty-four year olds on the case of wasting money, it is closer to 0.05 with a value of 0.08. Despite the fact that this is still closer to the significant figure, it is not enough to make an educated decision of a connection.
Discussion and Conclusion The chi-square test cleared up the question of age or gender having an effect on the support of an individual. Each value was more than 0.05 which makes it clear that there is no correlation between age and support nor is there one between gender and support. This data may be conclusive for this survey, but it is not a large enough sample to relate it to the population in its entirety. For a study as a whole, this survey is too invalid to make a conclusion. This survey had many limitations, the most obvious being the sample size. The responses only came from a street in East Lansing in one state of the entire country. With the restricted data that was collected, we fail to reject the null statement. The hypothesis was not supported. A more substantial survey could be conducted with a larger number of participants and a wider variety of locations used.

Cited Sources
"Canine Unit." Michigan State University Annual Report 2012. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 11-12. Michigan State University, 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
FBI. "Crime in the United States." FBI. FBI, 25 Sept. 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
"K-9 Law Enforcement History." Nleomf.org. National Law Enforcement Museum, Apr. 2012. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
Perkins, Craig A. "Age Patterns of Victims of Violent Crime." Bureau of Justice Statistics, July 1997. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
Smith, Brad. “Police Service Dogs: The Unheralded Training Tool.” Police 24.1 (2000): 36-9. ProQuest. Web. 25 Nov. 2013