What the hell is this guy's problem? His child wasn't injured at all and Nitro is only a puppy so he's going to have some nipping problems, just because he is a police dog doesn't mean he is perfect he still has a mind of his own. The commissioners who voted against the k-9 units are idiots, especially this guy.

Dogs are usually smarter.

Were the children out on a school night past their bedtime?

How convenient that the scummy commissioner that was against K9 in the first place, his child was "attacked" ..Sounds like political, sounds corrupt, sounds just like something Larry Holmes would do. You are taking a great police officer OFF the streets (only something a lousy, no good politician would do), breaking up an amazing partner relationship, taking a PUPPY away from his home and family and job.
Larry Holmes you are a disgusting person, and the "good" you think you do, won't add up in a LIFETIME to what Nitro could have done in his lifetime protecting our streets, our families and our children. Thank you for nothing Haverford Township politics.

Did the kid have drugs on him?

Well since the idea of having a K9 from the start seemed to be set up for failure, I'm sure the K-9 training for the dog and handler were minimal at best. It is not a show dog, but a POLICE K-9!!!!! Handler needs to understand the distance needed to maintain a safe environment for everyone. You want to socialize with my K-9, come to my house and I will give you a ball and you can play all day long till your arm falls off. When I and him are working, you can watch from a safe distance. He is working and I'll be damned if I am gonna let you come close to the K-9 that you didn't want in the first place.

Perhaps it was his adopted son from Columbia?

I read the article also and my first thought was that either the child's shirt was made out of hemp but i dont know if that would give a false positive to marijuana or drugs were rubbed on the toy as a " set up" for failure. Then I thought about it and decided no father would ever put his child in jeopardy like that just to make a political point so it had to be an accident, just an over excited puppy.

Nitro is okay with school children and has gone to school programs without incident. He has never had a problem before.

Service dogs, such as seeing eye are not allowed to socialize and are considered working dogs.
I have a Therapy Dog and believe me, he is great most of the time, the senior citizens love him at nursing homes and hospitals but he has his stubborn moments too.
No dog is 100 percent but police and military dogs strive to be the closest while putting their lives at risk to save ours.
Stop expecting actors and give them better training and the respect that they deserve!

I also disagree with most of these posts. This is a working dog and being a puppy is not an acceptable excuse. If the dog isn't ready to work properly in public then he shouldn't be there. I like the idea of having a K-9 unit in our township but this dog doesn't appear to be ready. Anything to help catch or deter criminals in our town is a good thing, no matter what the cost. To all of you who are bashing Larry Holmes, put yourself in his position. The dog went after his son. It doesn't matter that he had a toy. Have you had your hand in a puppy's mouth lately. I have. It's teeth are as sharp as needles and another inch closer it could have done some damage. They need a better trained and maybe older dog.

If the dog actually went after the child, the child would have been bitten.

"Haverford Police Dog Attacks Commissioner's Son" is a bit sensationalist. If the dog
really attacked the kid something worse would have happened. Puppies ripping shirts is nothing new. Perhaps the dog is too young to be on the force. But it sounds like the handler should have kept the dog further away from the kids. But why would you let your kids play so close to a dog that is not yours? Mistakes on both ends. It sounds like Larry freaked out as a father, which most would do if you don’t have dogs, not has a commissioner. If he does have a dog then it sounds like he exploited the situation for his own benefit.

Give nitro more time before you make a judgement.i am sure he will be good for the department.

Seems a little reactionary.

Let's have a grudge match....Nitro v Westgate Fox....steel cage match! We can sell tickets and recoup some tax revenues!

I am amazed and dismayed at the personal attacks on the commissioner that residents have posted on this site. The commissioner has a right to his opinion and vote, whether you agree or not. Maybe he was trying to save the taxpayers from having their $ wasted, as has been the case all too often in this township.
Regarding the service dog: thankfully he did not harm the child, but if a service dog cannot be trusted to be around people, then he probably isn't ready to be used in public yet. The safety of children and other innocent people should be of paramount importance when utilizing a service animal.
Please stop attacking the commish and give him the respect he deserves.
BTW I have never met him and have no personal stake in this.

First, I thought this was a complete waste of money from the beginning. Second, why wasn't the police handler there to prevent the dog from lunging? This is a huge liability to the township. If the dog goes after another child again and breaks skin, huge lawsuit. If it were my child I would be on the phone with a lawyer before I left that building.

Oh, also we are paying for hunting foxes! Good point, fellow residents....like that's not a ridiculous waste of taxpayer $. Lol. Since when do we not allow animals the freedom to be in our township?
And while we are on the subject of wasting taxpayer $, whatever happened to the appeal the township filed when the county said WE (read the taxpayers here) have to pay the family who owned the bubble gum/ YMCA property 6 million not 2? Was that mess ever settled?

Dog prob got stressed out and bit kids shirt K-9s well trained are an asset to any police,sheriffs dept .Dog should not be around kids

I live in Havertown, but work in a neighboring town which has employed Police canines for the last ten years. They are a magnificent tool and an adjunct to police capability, but they are trained animals, not people. In this incident the dog probably misinterpreted an action by the child and reacted. As a parent, I also would be upset. Fortunately, the child was not injured. Rather than just acting on emotion, rational thought should be employed to avoid discarding the enormous potential this program brings to the police department, and the money already spent. The dog and program are brand new and have barely had a chance to prove their worth. Rather than reacting by discarding the dog and banishing the program, you should step back and evaluate what happened. The dog and handler may need some additional training, or possibly just more careful handling and placement around crowds.

Police canines bring great added potential to police capability. To list just a few potential benefits; the dog can be trained to detect illegal narcotics that human officers might never find. The dog can track and out-run any fleeing fugitive. The dog can search places far too dangerous for human officers thus reducing liability. The dog can even help find missing children.

As a police officer, the only draw back I see in my own department with canines, is that we don't have enough of them. As a Haverford taxpayer, I ask only that the Commissioners react on rational thought, not emotion.

Do we have an port in Havertown I am not aware of that requires a K9 for search and seizure? Maybe the K9's are for the pipeline of narcotic traffickers coming through Havertown with all the fleeing fugitives? I almost forgot the prison Havertown has so we need the K9 to search for escaped prisoners through the thick jungles. I forget the exact justification for getting the K9's in Havertown, but I am certain one of these was mentioned. Right? K9 working dogs are great and do have a purpose in a police department, but are they needed in Havertown?

This is a new program to Havertown and while we can debate the need of the K9 force and the taxpayer expense, this incident provides evidence that the dog and the handler both need more training and experience before this dog can be around children. The dog should not have touched this child in any way. The humans involved are at fault for allowing this contact. A thoroughly trained dog and handler would not permit this to happen. When the dog is working, it is trained to do its job and only that job. When you watch the K9 patrols at work in 30th Street Station, neither the dog nor the handler igive eye contact to the civilians in the area or come into proximity to people during the patrol. This event with the public should not have happened. These are working canines and should not be viewed as humans in the social sense and be part of an event. A German Shepherd no matter how well trained always has the potential to bite and this must be respected when they are around children.

Edith, Your response is well written and you make great points. The problem here is it's Haverclown and the Circus is always in town. These commish's use this as a political event because they think they are the high and mighty. I mean one fox comes running through a yard and the commish's has the whole ward going crazy. Just about everything they try to accomplish winds up costing the taxpayer's in the end. The leaf collection and all the equipment and time invested in that along with the money and a whole lot of that Grade F. How about the Septa bus cost a dollar but my source tells me with repairs and alterations we now have 30k invested in it, and it sits there, do we really need it Grade F. The plan to remove those deer what a mess that was and the cost$$$$$ Grade F and there are still lot's of deer out there. I could go on and on oh shoot I forgot about the 15k for the clock on Darby Rd . When I opened my tax bill last week I didn't see the line item for the clock all i saw was another tax increase and the lies that go with it. Grade F One Big F for Failure

I'm most likely the K9 Officer Edith speaks of above in reference to 30th Street Station; 'Radar' & I work the heavily traveled commuter hours and then head home together to lead a family life consisting of numerous hours off leash with both my two year old twins and countless other neighborhood children in the yard. My key point would be exactly what Edith pointed out, you can simply tell by both my posture and Radar's stance that when we are working, we are working. When we pull into the driveway at home and my commands turn from german to english, we are home. There are numerous ways, styles, and concentrations when a K9 is trained and for all of us to jump to conclusions on both Mark/Nitro's relationship as well as the actions taken by Mr. Holmes seems premature and unsubstantiated at this time as none of us are Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) on K9 behavior or training initiatives. What we can do is support our local Police Department while we hopefully await factual considerations by the right people. It sounds like Mark/Nitro have a great thing going and just need more time to work out the kinks, a little remedial training would be a nice thing to see to appease both sides of this fight. For PR purposes, keep a blog about Nitros progress instead of taking him into public venues for presentations as he is still "growing." Work at work, play with kids at home.

Please stop calling an unfortunate incident where a police dog who is still a puppy went after a child's stuffed animal an "attack"! This is irresponsible reporting that negatively reflects on Havertown's worthwhile efforts to incorporate a police dog on the force. If the dog wanted to hurt the child, he would have. Your job is to report the news, not play into the hands of a self-serving commissioner. Do the dog and handler need more training? Probably. Can they learn from this incident? Absolutely. Was this an "attack"? I highly doubt it. When you report the news, you have the ability to sway the opinion of a public who will read your words as fact.... make sure you stick to the facts, and save words like "attack" for when they are truly accurate.

Let's face facts Most members of the HTPD are not even smart enough to handle the general public so this experiment is right on track. Let me know when the Police Chief is attacked and then we'll know that the training period is over.