Doggy Data Matching

Image by leef_smith via Flickr

So here we have it, big hairy Dogs cause crime, and the Police said it was Pot!

In 2006, Jaclyn Barnes led headed a team of researchers in Cincinnati which looked at the behaviors of owners of high risk for aggression dog breeds. Specifically they collected data from the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts in Ohio looking for evidence of criminal convictions.

A total of 166 owners of high risk dogs were compared with 189 owners of low risk dogs. The high risk dog owners had nearly 10 times more criminal convictions than other dog owners. Breaking the data down by categories of criminal behavior they found that high risk dog owners were 6.8 times more likely to be convicted of an aggressive crime, 2.8 times more likely to have carried out a crime involving children, 2.4 times more likely to have perpetrated domestic violence, and 5.4 times more likely to have an alcohol related conviction when compared to low risk dog owners…….

http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/200903/psychological-characteristics-owners-high-risk-aggression-dog-breeds

Perhaps the NZ Police need to establish and budget at NHQ, a National Dog Intelligence Bureau! [They profess to be good at Harm Index’s, even Doggy ones.]

Sensible Sentencing might go for “You are sentenced to ‘Life with a Cocker Spaniel’, we’ll reform your evil ways!”.

Do Repeat offenders get a brace of Dalmatians? and how soon will we be able to tell criminals by how fluffy their dog is?

Blair Anderson,

Barking Mad Doggy Analyst.

http://mildgreens.blogspot.com/

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Dogs, Drugs and Deluded Authority

Dogs in schools brings dogs into disrepute.

There is legitimate reason to have grave concerns regarding this practice. Every note in circulation carries residues of cocaine and where cannabis is so widely available even to adults it is all to easy to detect in almost any scenario especially at the near molecular trace levels a well trained dog can detect. This leads to false positives where the consequences, especially amongst peers, let alone determined authority eager to justify its ‘protectionist’ role. Drug Dogs in schools is a dangerous social practice in which the unintended harms are rarely quantified. It portrays ‘students’ as being under suspicion where there should be none, and sends the message to youth that “all their peers are doing it” when this is a false and misleading impression. Of course, authority is reluctant to acknowledge that they are [ever] part of the problem.

I applaud the insight given the comment “how they will handle the pastoral and press issues should a positive identification be found” – this is a very valid concern, made all the more crucial in the case of false positive.

I recommend anyone who shares these concerns to visit the website that covers drug education and youth and the booklet available there written by Prof. Rodney Skager “Beyond Zero Tolerance” for a Safety First approach to education and drugs. http://www.beyondzerotolerance.com

Blair Anderson, Director
Educators For Sensible Drug Policy,
http://www.efsdp.org

http://drugeducationforum.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/solo-attempt-at-battling-drugs/#comment-12102

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Every Man and His Dog runs for Mayor

media release: http://blair4mayor.com

Every Man and His Dog runs for Mayor.

Social Policy commentator Blair Anderson confirms that this day, the 24th August, he registered his candidacy for Mayor of Christchurch.

With some ten odd candidates lining up for the governance of one of the finest municipalities in the land, the mayoral race is looking more like an ‘every man and his dog’ race.

“I earnestly hope that the ‘meatspace’ media give some equity to all the good candidates and stop pretending this is the ‘Megan and Bob Show’.” says the second tilt candidate.

“Mayor Blair” Anderson is the only Mayoral Candidate to be sponsored by a dog. Yes, ‘Holmes’ who featured on the front page of the PRESS (May 2006) for catching a ‘drug’ burglar flogging tobacco from the Wainoni Dairy (opp Christchurch’s Porritt Park) has, in the interests of full disclosure, contributed to the BlairForMayor election deposit.

Mayor Blair was heard to say in the Cashel Mall on announcing the formal intention to run for the golden chains, that it was “a logical and mutual association to receive such support”.

Anderson went on to say “The metaphor of the marginalised dog kept behind high fences and on short leads is the root of a great deal of the social dysfunction across all of New Zealand, no less so in Christchurch.”

When Central Government makes the rules, it is often the local bodies who have to pick up the tab and are expected to implement and account for the policy.

As NZ’s first candidate sponsored by a dog, Anderson declared his vested interests in community dog policy and announced that “as Mayor” he would move to make the government mandated ‘microchips’ a life time dog registration. “What does it cost to keep a name on a list, GOOGLE would do it for free!” he said.

Further as Mayoral Candidate he noted that he wasn’t even required to give up his birth date to run for Mayor, and further more that along with his offer of giving three years of ‘civic duty’ to his city, his dog registration would be 150% of what it costs to be a mayoral candidate. “What’s wrong with this picture?”

Dog fees have escalated to a revenue gathering tax that on evidence has done little or nothing to prevent serious canine behaviours and continuing bite tragedies. The media moral panic and subsequent baying for blood and inevitably calls for more rules (Some school children now want ALL dogs muzzled) fail to notice that 600,000 plus dogs in New Zealand didn’t bite anyone today.

Lifetime licenses for micro-chipped dogs? Why not?

We maintain our Electoral Roles via Internet, why can’t we be trusted to do the same for our dogs.

We need more socialised dogs. That’s a start.

More on Blair’s insightful vision for Christchurch “Smart City, Clever People”
http://blairformayor.blogspot.com/2007/08/smart-city-clever-people.html

competing interests: http://doglinks.co.nz/

‹(•¿•)› Blair Anderson
ph (643) 389 4065 cell 027 265 7219

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