NT Ombudsman Peter Shoyer reveals police sicced dog on child

Territory cops sicced a police dog on a child telling him if he didn’t ‘calm the f — k down’ he would be mauled, the watchdog has revealed.

A police dog was sicced on a handcuffed child, with Territory cops telling the boy that if he didn’t “calm the f — k down” he would be mauled by the attack animal.

The NT Ombudsman’s latest annual report has called on police to review their policies around the dog squad’s use of force, following the serious in custody incident.

The watchdog said NT Police were arresting a boy after he allegedly obtained benefit by deception, a non-violent offence.

The NT Ombudsman’s latest annual report has called on police to review their policies around the dog squad’s use of force, following the serious in custody incident.

The child was in handcuffs and under police escort out of a home when he pulled his arms away from police twice, and was told by officers to calm down.

“Do you want to get bitten by a dog?” one of the officers asked.

That officer then asked the animal handler to “get the dog out”, telling the child “if you play up the dog is going to bite you”.

The dog was released and it ran unrestrained towards the child.

“See that dog is coming for you if you don’t calm the f—k down,” another officer said.

The boy was climbing into the paddy wagon cage when the dog stopped one metre away.

While the Ombudsman found the dog did not bark or display any aggression, it said it was an inappropriate use of force and remedial advice was provided to three officers.

“While a police dog can be deployed as a ‘challenge’, it was not appropriate in these circumstances,” the report said.

However Ombudsman Peter Shoyer urged the Police Commissioner to go further and review the Dog Operations Instructions, particularly their use on non-violent offenders and while released as part of their “catch and apprehend” stage.

“It is important to recognise that there is always potential for a dog to be, to some extent, an independent and highly aggressive actor, even with a handler present,” Mr Shoyer said.

This year the NT News revealed that an unarmed 16-year-old boy was mauled by a police dog in November 2022, resulting in him being hospitalised with injuries to his neck and shoulder — police later dropped all charges against him.

Given the significant likelihood of injury, Mr Shoyer called for a “debate” over NT Police’s use of the dogs for non-violent offenders.

Mr Shoyer said NT Police told him there was a current review of dog squad practices.

When approached for further comment, NT Police said it would not respond to anything from the Ombudsman’s report.

The latest PFES annual report said the 407 people were “apprehended” by the Dog Operations Unit in 2022-23, 167 more than the previous year.