April 3, 2012 12:05PM 

# $620,000 Jury Award for Dog Shooting 

By [Tim Lynch](https://www.cato.org/people/tim-lynch) 

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Yesterday a jury found that police officers entered a couple’s home without their permission and shot their dog for no good reason. The [$620,000 award](http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=133903) is a good outcome for the family, but all too often there is no accountability mechanism for police misconduct. Like the official response to the [outrageous Cheye Calvo incident](https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-video/cheye-calvo-details-swat-raid-killed-family-dogs), the police insisted that they were just “doing their job,” which sounds like they’re going to keep on doing what they do.

##### Related Tags 

[Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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