I can’t get my head around the prospect of Scotland’s chief constable being dragged before an inquiry over the death of a Highland police dog.
Too fanciful to contemplate? Or maybe not.
A whiff of scandal swirls around tragic PD Zara over whether she was put down unnecessarily by Police Scotland rather than pay a £12,000 surgical bill.
Like a faulty photocopier thrown in the bin at a local nick because she wasn’t worth the expense.
Chief Constable Jo Farrell is the legal owner of all Scotland’s police dogs.
The buck stops with her.
A major UK police-dog charity is now applying pressure on Farrell similar to the formidable grip of a canine copper’s jaws.
Grip-strength is a thing apparently; it’s a test of whether a puppy has the teeth to make the grade.
A famous police dog called Finn was stabbed in the head with a 10-inch blade and again straight through to his lungs, but was still pinning the assailant down with his powerful jaws when help arrived; he probably saved his handler’s life.
But back to Zara, whose police career was cut short at the age of two.
Police Scotland is under suspicion of making financial expediency more of a priority than saving a valuable dog.
Zara’s death deserves an independent inquiry
Now the Thin Blue Paw Foundation, which raised £40,000 for a statue in Finn’s memory, has written to Farrell demanding an independent inquiry into Zara’s death.
They want to establish if strict police-dog welfare protocols, in force regulations imposed by the UK’s most senior police chiefs, were followed at every stage.
Zara suffered severe pelvic injuries in an accident near Beauly; put down two days later.
The charity was horrified by claims from well-informed insiders that she could have returned to duty after surgery.
This contradicts the official Police Scotland line that she had “no guarantee of a normal life”.
So officially it appears to be a mercy killing to end her suffering, while others claim Zara was deemed expendable due to tight police budgets – not her condition.
Even if police spent the money on the operation and then discovered she wasn’t well enough to return, I bet most people would have applauded the effort.
Thin Blue Paw could have supported her retirement financially – this is what they do.
So who is on the right side of this dispute?
Police Scotland could clear it up at a stroke.
The force said it was “listening” to the charity’s concerns.
What Police Scotland really needs to do is start talking instead – in great detail.
As I write, memories flood back of me staring into my little dog’s eyes as she looked back with the same expression as always.
Brimming with love and trust, mine blurred by tears.
It was a short intense battle to keep our Bindy alive; now we were letting her go via an intravenous drip.
I kept gazing into her eyes, cuddling and whispering in her ear.
Until the vet told me gently that she was already dead.
Her eyes were still open and that look of total love and trust in me was locked in place.
It broke my heart.
The awful dilemma of when to let go faces all pet owners at some point.
Instinctively, we knew the time was right as a particularly vicious cancer was killing her.
We had started paying £600 a shot for small doses of a “miracle cure”; money was almost no object.
We still keep the pillow she lay on next to our bed the night before she died.
Official explanations around Zara’s prognosis were questionable, according to sources.
I read a rather woolly police statement which would certainly be deconstructed forensically if ever presented to a court or inquiry.
How do they define “normal” life?
What was the detailed veterinary advice, and the thoughts of professional trainers and handlers?
Euthanasia of police dogs must be last resort
I’ve been leafing through the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) “police-dog standards” manual.
On page 37 there is a euthanasia section, which is described as an absolute “last resort”.
It states clearly that this must be backed by detailed supporting evidence, a “full rationale” to justify the decision and a record of what expert opinion was taken.
This should be in Zara’s file.
Police must now reveal this detailed and incontrovertible proof to ascertain if it backs their version of events.
I don’t know if police dogs meet school pupils these days, but such visits could become much less appealing with this shocking tragedy hanging like a cloud.
Although the outcome remains unclear, the charity suspects scandalous treatment has happened to other police dogs elsewhere.
I mentioned Finn earlier; he triggered Finn’s Law to protect police dogs more effectively from criminals.
Is it possible that in some places they also need protection from their own police bosses?
Zara’s Law, perhaps?
David Knight is the long-serving former deputy editor of The Press and Journal
Conversation