A video circulating online has many dog and non-dog owners pretty upset with a local law enforcement officer.

The video in question was recently shared on El Paso’s FitFam Instagram account. It shows what appears to be a Socorro police officer outside of a home with a dog on a leash.

The dog is sitting next to the police officer and at one point in the video you can see the officer hit the dog in the head.

The video quickly circulated online and it reached officials with the city of Socorro who released a statement on the issue saying that the behavior was warranted and authorized because it was part of a four-step training process:

“ The PD Handler is seen carrying out step 3: physical redirection, where the officer carried out a one-time open-handed strike to the animal; stopping when the animal obeyed his command."

 

El Pasoans React:

The video also quickly stirred up some emotions from El Pasoans who were disgusted to witness a police officer hitting what many were calling “his partner” aka the dog in question.

"And by K9 companion you mean fellow officer."

Some comments questioned the officer’s training:

" The police officer needs more training than the actual dog smh."

Others wondered if the dog was impacted by the hot weather as well:

"Poor dog he probably was dehydrated or too hot."

And the majority of comments asked for the officer to be fired, immediately!

“He should be fired immediately, that k-9 is considered an officer as well. Felony charges of animal abuse should be filed as well. Time to start making examples out of animal abusers. If he would do that to his K-9 partner , he would do it to a family member or any citizen.”

 

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