A bill introduced in California on Monday would prohibit the state’s police from using their K-9 co-workers in apprehensions, arrests and crowd control, ostensibly because of racism concerns.

Two Democrat state lawmakers sponsored the bill, claiming it could “help end a practice with a troubling history involving Black communities,” Fox News reports:

“Assemblymembers Corey Jackson and Ash Kalra said AB 742 could help end a practice with a troubling history involving Black communities and police dogs, they said during a Monday news conference.”

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“‘The use of police canines has inflicted brutal violence and lifelong trauma on Black Americans and communities of color,’ Jackson said in a statement. ‘This bill marks a turning point in the fight to end this cruel and inhumane practice and build trust between the police and the communities they serve.’”

Kalra characterized the use of police dogs as a practice "rooted in slavery."

The bill itself refers to “slave catchers” and evokes images of racism:

“The Legislature finds and declares the following:

“(a) The use of police canines has been a mainstay in the constant dehumanizing, cruel abuse of Black Americans and people of color in this country. Be it in response to the Black Lives Matter protests over the murder of George Floyd, during the Los Angeles Race Riots and the Civil Rights Movement, or by slave catchers, police canines are a carryover from a dark past that is not often discussed.”

“If we take it away, you’re just eliminating one more, non-lethal weapon for law enforcement,” Ron Cloward, a retired lieutenant with the Modesto Police Department and president of the Western States Police Canine Association, told local news KCRA 3.

“I’m not going to say that a bad bite can’t happen, because they do. But, people don’t die from dog bites,” Cloward said.

Additionally, he notes, an officer can recall a K-9 – but, once he fires a gun or deploys a Taser or pepper spray, it’s irreversible.

“What’s the alternative: somebody laying in the morgue with a gunshot wound?” Cloward asked.

If the bill becomes law, police K-9s would be relegated to duties that don’t involve biting, such as sniffing out bombs and drugs.