Kansas lawmakers look to increase penalties for harming police dogs

Kansas legislators are moving to impose tougher prison sentences for harming or killing police dogs, and the measure has bipartisan support despite questions elsewhere over how the animals are used in law enforcement. Killing the dogs already is a felony in Kansas, but the maximum prison sentence is one year; the maximum fine is $5,000, and the law does not specifically cover horses. The measure is a response to the death in November of Bane, an 8-year-old dog used by the Sedgwick County sheriff in Wichita, the state's largest city.