Are K9's considered officers of the law?

[shank hawk]

The feds, along with many states, have made it a crime to harm or kill K9 'officers.' So the answer to my not so hypothetical question is "YES."

That said, do you think this officer will be charged with killing two law enforcement officers?
Hialeah police say K-9 Officer Nelson Enriquez arrived at his home in Davie early Wednesday after completing his midnight shift and apparently left the dogs inside his vehicle. Investigators say the officer found the dogs around 7 p.m.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/2-police-dogs-found-dead-in-florida-officers-suv/33260770

I remember years ago reading about a K9 'officer' that was killed on Hwy 20 near Peosta. It seems that after Fido (allegedly) sniffed out some drugs in a stopped vehicle his partner (of the homo sapien variety), grabbed the toy that Fido played with as a reward for his drug busts. Unfortunately for Fido, the toy bounced out onto the interstate.......where he was promptly run over and went, presumably, to his heavenly reward.

Ya' just gotta be careful out there on the mean streets people.

 

[theIowaHawk]

It would be ridiculous, imo, to simply label all of them LEOs (humans and K9s), but I see no problem with creating a law that specifically prohibits/punishes injuring a LEO K9. It should, certainly, be a lesser punishment than for a human.

Civilly, your pet is just property, worth the value of the property, and not all the emotional baggage that could come with, say, losing a child.

 

[WORTHYWISH]

Reality