Contact:
Tom Evenson
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GREEN BAY – Governor Scott Walker signed Assembly Bill 58 into law today at the Green Bay Police Department. The bill changes procedures for law enforcement dogs if they bite a person.
Assembly Bill 58 – changes the requirements for law enforcement dogs that have bitten a person. Under current law, if a dog has bitten a person, they must be quarantined unless they bit the person while performing law enforcement duties and are immunized against rabies. It must be confined while not performing law enforcement functions until it can be examined by a veterinarian on three separate occasions. This bill eliminates the requirements that a law enforcement dog that has bitten a person be examined by a veterinarian and that the dog be confined. It also requires the law enforcement agency to make the dog available for examination at any reasonable time and, if the dog exhibits abnormal behavior, to notify the local health department. Authored by Representative Andre Jacques (R – De Pere) and Senator Robert Cowles (R – Green Bay). It is Act 23.
“This is a common-sense change that saves the state time and money,” Governor Walker said. “In fact, 19 other states already have a similar exemption on the books. Law enforcement dogs are highly trained and their handlers know them well enough to know if there are changes in their health or behavior.”
