When the police show compassion for animals it is great to see and good for the police forces. People like to see it. In their difficult work, the police can get a bad name for themselves. When they show compassion for animals it raises their public image tremendously. The public want to see this behaviour from law enforcement.
Law enforcement in New Zealand have been going through a stressful time recently with the mosque massacre in Christchurch so it is particularly impressive to see a compassionate police reaction when a Police Dog Unit vehicle accidentally hit a pukeko on the road.
I’ll quote from Facebook:
“Within a very short time we had 2 armed handlers arrive at the hospital, 2 dogs woofing noisily from back of van. They were in full regalia!!! A tiny alive pukeko baby wrapped in some navy police overalls. Surreal!! Both were armed, and the policewoman asked for something to clean pukeko poo off her machine gun!!”
This behavior is a sure fire way for the police to advertise to the world that they are serving the public and not trying to be their masters, that they are kind and well-balanced individuals, the sort of person the public needs as police officers.
The opposite is true. Police officers who abuse cats and dogs in the name of applying the law do damage to how the public perceive the police force. Always be compassionate towards animals must be the motto. The public have strong feelings about animals.
P.S. The pukeko is a swamp bird quite common in New Zealand. The name pukeko is the Maori version of the Australasian swamphen.
