Category: Sunday magazine

Mrs. Helen Edet Odia, mother of Omonigho recounts her moment of bravery, saying she could not afford to lose him.

You braved a situation that even a team of policemen could not brave, what gave you the courage?

My son, the fear for his life propelled me. I simply could not stand there and watch him die when I could do something. Yes I have three of them, but I’m not ready to lose one. Not even half.

You reportedly said that even the team of the police would not go in to save the boy. Why?

I think the fear for their lives. They did not want to put their lives at risk for another man’s child. Initially when they arrived, we all heaved a sigh of relief that ‘thank God the police have arrived.’ But how wrong we were!

What about all the neighbours who gathered?

To me, that was the most annoying part, because none of them was ready to go in, yet they prevented me from going in for quite a long while. I can actually recall the faces of those who were holding me back. Looking back, I believe that if they had let me go in the moment I got there, maybe the damage would not have been so bad. It was a terrible scene. At intervals  probably after a fresh bite, the dogs would come out to the balcony, snarling and looking really ferocious, with blood dripping from their mouth. And that further agitated me, but they kept holding me back. So we were all relieved when the police came, but to my surprise, one of them, whose face I cannot recall now said “madam na me wan die?”  It was at that point that I said to myself “I can’t take it anymore.” I opened the gate, opened the staircase door and went into the sitting room. To my horror, I saw my son’s scalp on the floor. The first one, Ghadaffi, who was familiar with the neighbours, approached me and ran out.  But the new one called Jacky was still there, eating away. And then I saw my son and screamed Omo, and he screamed back ‘mummy’. So, I said, “thank God, my son is alive.” I grabbed him and ran out. Even as I carried my son, Jacky was still there chewing away.

What lesson have you learnt in the middle of all this?

That everybody is on his own. Nobody is ready to stake his life for anybody. But one question I keep asking is that ‘What kept us all from going in as a group?’ As far as I’m concerned, the dogs would have stepped back and probably run away out of fear if they saw a crowd approaching with sticks and stones, but nobody was willing to join me.

What is the situation of the boy now? Has the scalp been replaced?

The scalp is still there. The doctors say it will grow back. Some are saying they will repair it or take him abroad. My own is that anything they know they can do to make Omo return to the good old Omonigho, they should just do.

How does it feel to know that you are stronger than seven armed policemen put together?

That is the strength of motherhood. To God be the glory.

Dr. (Mrs.) Funmilayo AIao is a veterinary doctor, clinician and small animal practitioner. She spoke to Gboyega Alaka on the potent danger of bites from unvaccinated dogs, the fatality of rabies if not immediately treated and the need to revisit the laws regulating the breeding of animals. 

There are still people out there who don’t know that a dog bite can be very dangerous. Tell us the implication.

The implication of a dog bite is that you can be infected with rabies and the implication of rabies is death, because it’s a viral infection. The only thing that can stop it is a timely intervention. Unfortunately, when children get bitten by a dog, they hardly ever tell their parents because of fear of being scolded. Two cases happened in Mologede, around Meiran area of Lagos earlier this year, where two children of different parents in a compound were bitten by a dog. I think it was actually reported in the papers. It happened that a part of the building was being tracked by bats and bats, like you know are serious carriers of the rabies virus, just as they carry the ebola virus. So, apparently, the dogs were bitten by the bats. The dog bit the boy and the girl and both of them kept mute over it. Eventually, the girl died. It was then that the boy told his parents that they had both been bitten by the same dog. By that time, it was too late. He had started showing signs of fear of water and they had to make tea for him. His cheek muscles also became paralysed and he started drooling saliva and eventually he died.  In fact, we considered the entire area endangered and had to go and give them free rabies vaccination last World Rabies Day (September 28).

Can you expatiate more on dog bites?

You could have a dog bite if you’re training a dog. As a matter of fact, a dog can even bite its owner, depending on the temperament of the dog or what was transpiring between the master and the dog. There are some dogs that once you serve them, you don’t touch their plates again. True, there is an adage that says that ‘You don’t bite the finger that feeds you,’ but that does not necessarily apply to dogs. A dog bite is ordinarily like one human being biting another, but if the dog is infected with rabies, there is a big danger.  The danger is not in the dog bite as much as the fear of the rabies virus being in the saliva. An owner of a dog can be infected with rabies if the dog is infected. For an outsider, the dog might need to bite the person and cause a discontinuity in the skin, during which process the virus can get into the body system. As an owner, if you have a wound, your dog can lick it and transfer the rabies virus in its saliva into your body system. You must understand that dogs take care of their wound by licking it, and may therefore only have the intention of helping the master. This is why a dog keeper should always vaccinate his dog, because this kind of situation can play out. In fact, it happened in the case of little Mary who fell and had an open wound. Her dog licked it, and the incident was forgotten, not knowing that the dog had rabies and had transmitted it into her system. Nobody suspected any danger until the girl started showing symptoms of hydro-phobia, which is the fear of water. And before you knew it, the girl died of rabies. Also we should always approach dogs with caution because anything can trigger a dog bite. It can even snap. Even as a Vet doctor, you could be bitten by a dog. It’s called job hazard. I have a personal experience with a dog. I had been treating it for a while, but on this particular day, it was in a bad mood and suddenly rushed at me. Luckily, I was by the gate, and quickly shut it, otherwise, it could have bitten me and the question would have been “Why did the dog bite the vet? After all, she had been treating it in the past.”

Once bitten by a dog, how early should one get the anti-rabies vaccination?

Once contracted, the incubation period of the rabies virus is from three to seven days to about seven years. You must make a report and commence treatment from Day Zero. There is always the fear of the vaccination having expired. So, if you’re not certain, it is best to see a doctor and commence the treatment and vaccine. We have the pre-exposure and post exposure. Pre-exposure is preventive and it’s about three shots that make a dose. As a vet or someone who deals with dogs or other carrier animals, you may take it for your safety. The post exposure, which is the one taken after you have been bitten is about five shots, but the danger is that you must make a report and commence treatment with your doctor from Day Zero. And then Day Seven, Day 14, Day 21 and so on

Our society is such that stray dogs abound everywhere, do they ever get vaccinated?

No, they don’t. Those local dogs that you see moving about in your neighbourhood are particularly dangerous. The issue of dog vaccination is something the government should look into as a matter of urgency because anybody can be bitten and infected with rabies. A vet, who is supposed to be trained, understands dogs and treats them, can still be bitten by a dog.  The owner of a dog can be bitten by the same dog. Even the president can be bitten by a dog. There is a pathetic case of a father who was bitten by a rabid dog in Abuja three years ago and died, and whose son also died of rabies this year. The government should take an urgent step about dog vaccination. They should also do something about arresting stray dogs on the street because they are dangerous. Sometimes, they’re lying in the darkness, and if by mistake you step on them, they will definitely bite you.

Someone once said that a street dog is tantamount to a mad man.

Absolutely. Even as a vet, I don’t play with a dog that I don’t know. If I see a stray dog, I simply move away from its path. That is not cowardliness, it is called wisdom. The reason is that I don’t know if the owner has vaccinated the dog, why then should I expose myself? People should make efforts to vaccinate their dog. It’s not expensive, just about three thousand naira, and it’s just once in a year. Unfortunately, we also love to live in denial of stark realities. A woman once told me “Jesus will not allow such evil to befall us.” This is not about bible or faith. Vaccinating a dog is cheap and you cannot compare the N3,000 to the risk involved. You’d be surprised that even the so-called educated people don’t vaccinate their dogs. I’ve also heard cases where people rationalised and asked questions like, “How much do I spend on paracetamol that I should go and spend a whopping N3000 on a dog?”

What can make a dog deviate from the normal biting, to eating up a boy alive?

I do not know the kind of dog in question. But a Rottweiler can do that. Be that as it may, it is wrong to leave your dog off leach to roam the compound for the safety of your neighbours. In this particular case, I want to believe that the dog had never seen the boy before and might have seen him as an intruder. I understand that the dog was recently brought into the house fully matured. This is another lesson that I always pass to my clients. Why bring a fully mature dog into the house? It’s just like when you go and buy a fairly used car. The truth is if the car was serving its owner well, he wouldn’t have had any reason to sell it. If you trace the history of that dog to where it was coming from, it is likely that it had become a nuisance in the neighbourhood. It is also possible that it is no longer respecting its owner and by the time a dog attacks its owner, that means it has become extremely dangerous. When we were in vet school, we were taught that once a dog kills a human being, it must sleep that day; meaning it must die.

Is there a law that compels dog owners to vaccinate them?

I don’t think so, and that is what we are clamouring for now. We as a body are calling on the government to utilise the vet doctors at their disposal, so that if I know my neighbour has a dog, I can ask if it is vaccinated. In the past, we had sanitary inspectors, who were empowered to ask for the vaccination certificate of a dog. That way, even when we have a case of dog bite, you know that you’re just dealing with just a case of dog bite. It is not human to keep a dog and not feed a dog or vaccinate it, because it can go wild. We are also trying to get the government to revisit old laws that now appear seemingly ineffective.  We’re talking of laws that require defaulters to pay N200 fine. Who’s going to care about such law? The government needs to revisit the laws and then create awareness.

Do you subscribe to people who say they keep dog for security?

Oh, dogs are good for security. There is no doubt about that, because they are faithful. Your security man can compromise your safety and connive with an intruder, but a dog will not. He would rather die. I know a client’s dog along Governor’s Road, Ikotun, that fought tirelessly and ensured that hoodlums who had come to attack the house never gained access. Even though it was shot in one of its limb, it continued to fight and chased them out of the street. This particular Jacky dog might have been a security dog. Some security dogs are trained to only acknowledge their owner that feeds them and nobody else. They attack any other human that comes close.

Born on October 6, 1948 in the Iboro community of Yewa Local Government Area of Ogun State, where he had his primary education at the now renamed Holy Trinity Primary School and his secondary education at Egbado College, now Yewa College, Ilaro, Professor Rahamon A. Bello moved through the academic mill to become the 11th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos On November 12, 2012.
The University of Ife First Class honours graduate in Chemical Engineering and Masters and PhD holder from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, who also had stints in government, corporate organisations and the United Nations Development Programme, has been running a relatively peaceful administration so far.
Sunday Life met him in his 11th floor office overlooking the shimmering waterfront at the Senate House in the bustling Akoka campus of the citadel of learning. He spoke with Associate Editor, Taiwo Ogundipe, on wide ranging issues.

Your tenure has been relatively peaceful, what has been responsible for this?

We want to thank God for the relative peace that we have in the university. The University of Lagos is known for its peaceful cohabitation of all the stakeholders in the community. Once in a while, you have disagreements and issues but generally the University of Lagos has been normally been as peaceful as it can be. It’s not that we don’t have issues but we try to resolve them as cordially as it can be. We also like to respond to issues as quickly as they arise rather than let them drag on to create more problems for the system.

How would you describe your own style of administration? We know that your late predecessor, Professor Sofoluwe, had a folksy approach to management. He used to move around the campus interacting with the high and the mighty as well as the lowly. He was really visible.

We have open administration till now. Recall that I was part of that last administration you referred to. We may not be as visible as it was then but we also run an open administration. People are free and do freely come to consult and discuss their problems. We have created avenues for issues to be taken up as at when they occur. We do attend to issues at all corners of the campus as they occur as well.

We want to know the landmarks, if any, of your administration.

Our challenges have been to quantify what we’ve been doing in the way that you’ve put them. But what we are doing will come to light more visibly very soon. We have taken the issues that are geared toward making sure that this university moves on in the direction that will be visible not only in Nigeria as is today, but also internationally. Our focus has been to improve the academic environment to very high international standard. In virtually all the faculties, all the classrooms and laboratories are being fully rehabilitated to world class standard. Very soon all these will be completed and you’ll find the state of readiness and use that befit the status that we want the University of Lagos to be in. Apart from that, we’ve been looking at infrastructural deficiencies of the system and we’ve been trying to address them putting in more facilities to ensure that we meet the minimum needs of the rising population of the community. This will go in the line of hostel accommodation. We are about to commence the construction of new hostels which will increase the bed spaces available. We are trying to put in some faculty facilities as well to be able to improve classroom spaces that are deficient in some of the faculties.

One of the issues that we are faced with on this campus is the shortage of land space for lateral development. So we’ve taken decision that all our infrastructural facilities will now be moving vertically. If the old ones had been done with partitions that could carry more floors, then it would have been easier for us to expand. We’ve now taken a decision that most of our new buildings will be minimally 12-floor foundation and we can build up on that.

Don’t you have land spaces outside this vicinity?

University of Lagos is on three locations: this one here, the one at Idi Araba and the School of Radiography in Yaba. We are looking at the possibility of expanding outside them. But that will depend on availability of resources. So we are trying to curtail our self within the limited space that we have and make our self a city university that we are rather than operating  as if we have the land like most of the other universities that are located in the inter land. We want to continue to brand our self as a city university.

During the last accommodation allocation exercise, the students and their parents experienced a lot of bottlenecks, especially the issue of scratch card. What steps are you taking to prevent this in future?

We are already changing the modality for hall administration. We had a meeting this morning with all the stakeholders and had discussions on this. The allocation will now be completely different. The use of scratch card has now been done away with. Although the available space will have to be shared within the limited number of people that could take it, but it will be done in a way that those who will take it will have ways of being selected that will be as open as possible. The Directorate of Student Affairs will allocate people into the halls but each hall administration will have to handle allocation of bed spaces. That will reduce some of the tension. We found that the previous process of going on the internet platform and wasting money was quite hostile to the students and it created a lot of back door problems. And people were exploited. That was the unfortunate part of it. We discovered that because the University of Lagos is in the Lagos environment, there are a lot of people waiting in the corners to take advantage and use the names of people to just exploit students illegally. And they won’t get anywhere because we know at the end of the day all our activities will be based on merit. People will not know this, they’ll just fall victim and just be giving money to those who will exploit them.

A lot of people believe that the University of Lagos has been so commercialised, elitist and that its services are offered at high cost and unaffordable to the average person. What do you have to say about this?

That insinuation is not true. The University of Lagos does not charge tuition for undergraduates but it charges for post graduate students. The undergraduates pay for service charges. These include charges for accommodation, internet service and just a few others. The total fee an undergraduate is charged is just about N30, 000 and maybe a few minor others. We are against exploitation like in a situation where you are supposed to pay N1, 000 and then you pay another N1, 000 or N500 to be able to pay the original N1, 000. This must be one of the instances people are referring to.

The University of Lagos is not over commercialised. And when you say the services are not made available for ordinary people, that is not true. In term the calibre of students that we have now, they are the best of the best in the nation because the competition to get into the University of Lagos is fierce. And that is why people believe they can go behind to induce their way in. That is not possible. At the end of the day, you’ll find out that we go on merit. People who try to induce their way in fall into the hand of fraudsters who swindle them of their money. The number of spaces is limited and we just have to cut off as government’s procedure demands.

There were recent reported cases of fire outbreak on the main campus and it was said the fire service here could not handle the situations.  And that it took intervention of the fire service from the Yaba College of Technology nearby to handle the situations. What is the position of things?

Yes it’s true the fire equipment we have is not functional. And we’ve been addressing all that by trying to purchase a new one. Fire equipments are not easy things that you can just pick up on the shelf and start running. And they are expensive. So we have set up a plan to acquire new ones. However, even if you have good fire equipment, and there is a fire outbreak, the usual thing is to call for support from the other fire agencies to also assist because the level of fire could go above just the one truck available. So when there is fire outbreak, even when we had our own fire truck functioning, we normally called for assistance from outside. The issue of fire incidences is not uncommon in any place where you have a large population. Our student population alone is very high. We have 35, 000 full time undergraduates, we have between 8, 000 to 12, 000 postgraduates and we have well over 16, 000 part-time students. At a point in time, we were getting close to about 60, 000 students alone, not to talk of staff. And in the hostels, people do not conform to regulations. Some are either misapplying appliances or doing wrong plug-ins, whereas you have officials who are supposed to handle such. But people don’t wait for them.  That is why you have fire incidents. We are making efforts to enlighten the people. And we are also using other devices like fire alarm devices so as to be able to reduce and eliminate loss of lives if there is any fire incidence at all.

There was a recent report of a motor car invention by some students of the University of Lagos. The car was said to have been taken abroad for a competition. Give us the narrative on this.

The Shell Company in Nigeria consulted three universities: University of Lagos, University of Benin and Ahmadu Bello University to put up prototypes of vehicles that can compete with others worldwide at the Shell Eco Marathon. Each of the universities set at it, embarking on different projects. Universities of Lagos and Benin came up with their results in different areas of operation. The two universities went to The Hague for the competition. Our own was the electric type and was able to get to the field and participated in the process. The University of Benin’s entry was also technically okay but they could not participate in the race.

Our entry is called Autonov 2, named after Autonov 1 which was developed by the late Professor Awojobi. They named it after the late professor to honour him for being an authority at the university as far as that was concerned. The students designed the components by themselves. This shows the kind of quality the students of the University of Lagos are made of. They have also been invited to another event in South Africa, which is coming up shortly. They have redesigned a new one. In fact, I’ve just got their memo on that. They are going to take that new one to that race and that will definitely be another eye-catching moment for the University of Lagos. These boys are doing wonders and are really not only representing the University of Lagos but also projecting Nigeria in the best of light. I’m sure they’ll do well in South Africa.

Are you reaching out to potential investors to invest in these kinds of effort?

This kind of situation is not the one Nigerian business environment is ready for. The products are vehicles for racing and they have specifications as to what they do, but suffice to say that the technology in use by this could also rub off later on investment in the country. This is because they are designing components that can be used to run and to drive, which also can become something that can be commercially exploited. But for now, it’s a racing car thing they are working on, which they use for competition. The automobile industry in Nigeria is not yet expanded up to that level. Eventually, they’ll catch up. The same thing happens in the developed world. People go to those events to pick new ideas and be able to modify their designs.

Have these products been patented?

Patenting is a different thing. If they do something that is unique, that can be patented. But what they have done is just a normal initiative and process. It is not everything that is patentable.

Apart from the engineering department, are there any other achievements recorded in the other departments?

Virtually every area of this university has credible activities or events that are ongoing and are probably open to the world. For example, our Faculty of Pharmacy has been earmarked to commence a programme in traditional herbal medicine based on their work as the centre of excellence in traditional/herbal medicinal practice in West Africa. In fact, it is the West Africa Health Organisation that is sponsoring that along with the Nigerian counterpart. Each area has a unique thing. If you go the Faculty of Law, we have people here who have been recognised in Netherlands and other places where there they have been given chairs of seats outside of Nigeria. At the University of Lagos, we don’t make too much noise but we are compiling all the developments. When the time comes, we’ll come up with the comprehensive information.

Talking about the faculties, the College of Medicine has been in the news lately. The general perception outside is that it is not well funded and equipped. What do you have to say about this?

The College of Medicine is a component of the University of Lagos. It is also linked with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital. Sometimes, the functionalities of the two units are mixed. LUTH is a hospital which is like a laboratory for the College of Medicine. College of Medicine is the academic component of that. But unfortunately, the management of both reside in different ministries. LUTH is under the Federal Ministry of Health while College of Medicine is under Federal Ministry of Education. We have those differences in there. When people are talking about the good old days, they are confusing what is in LUTH to what is in the college. It is true we don’t have as much funds to improve the structures and other things, which is what we are working on. But the College of Medicine products are still one of the best, if not the best, in the country. People still struggle to want to get into the College of Medicine to do their programmes, and we usually have big tough time to be able to pick and select merit-wise because the scores get so high. Yes, we don’t have resources to be able modernise the college as we should have been able to. However, we are now commencing that modernisation and it will become a centre of excellence very soon as well.

In spite of the apparent inadequacies, the College of Medicine recorded a feat during the Ebola crisis. The first tests of detection that were done were performed by the College of Medicine personnel. In fact, the bulk of the advocacy and contact tracing that went around between Lagos and Port Harcourt was managed by our top personnel from the College of Medicine. They sacrificed their time. That was how they were able to support the Federal Ministry of Health and the nation to be able to monitor and ensure the containment of the crisis.

What is the latest development concerning controversial proposed name change initiated by President Jonathan?

We are happy that we have put the issue of name change behind us.

Is it final?

Well, at least as at now. The government itself has realised that we should not waste our time and energy on that, and what they’ve said is that the federal university in Lagos should remain until the law changes. So it is a legal situation because University of Lagos was established by an act of parliament.

How are you coping with the issue of cultism on campus?

It is minimal here. Cultism has, however, taken a different dimension in this nation. We just pray that we have a change of mind. Cultism is beyond the walls of any university or tertiary institution. Cultism goes into the community now. When the students leave school, they make it become a community affair and turn it into crime. It is a major thing, so it has to be tackled nationally.

What is your ultimate vision for the University of Lagos?

My main hope for the University of Lagos is to make it visible internationally. We are hoping and praying to move it forward to becoming the numero uno university in Africa at least. We are doing everything necessary to achieve that. I can assure you that academic-wise, we are top in this continent but because of infrastructure, particularly IT infrastructure, which others have gone ahead of us for, we have not been visibly seen. And that is why the ranking that we have don’t show us in the right way. We are now working on the IT component of our activities so that we can be visible and get properly ranked. My vision is to keep the University of Lagos high up there and maintain it there so that subsequently, we’ll be reckoned it worldwide. I look forward to a day when somebody at the University of Lagos will be able to win a Nobel Prize.

Barr. Goddy Okpanem of Sovereign Chambers, Lagos who has been very active on the case speaks on the rights of Nigerians as provided by the law, but which they have hardly  explored.

Do neighbours have a right to request that a co-tenant keeping a dangerous dog take it out?

Of course, you have a right. And that you can actually seek an injunction restraining him from keeping the animal on the basis that the animal(s) are dangerous and you could be attacked. The problem is that this is an area that has not been explored or tested, but you do have a right to demand that your neighbour move out a dangerous animal, if your life, that of your wife, children or entire family is in danger. You can approach the court and ask for perpetual injunction for the animal to be moved out to forestall danger. As I said, this area has not been well litigated, but we’ve had cases whereby an animal attacked a human being or damaged another man’s liability, and he sued. And it’s a strict liability. Should the animal attack you, then you have more reason to seek redress.

Which is the best place to go in such situation: the police station or the court?

You will have to institute a case in court. If you go to the police, they are likely to tell you that you have not been attacked and so there is no case. Well I think there is a provision of the law that empowers the police to place the person keeping the animal under caution that if any thing should happen to you on account of the animal he is keeping, he will be held liable. But that will be waiting for the disaster to happen. The only place where you can get remedy is the court. I understand that the father of the boy had been complaining and expressing his fear about this imminent danger that eventually happened, but if he had taken action and gone to court to seek an injunction, then this would never have happened.

Why do you think Nigerians find it hard to exercise their rights?

Mainly, I think it would be about the economy. For instance, if you come to me as a lawyer to help you file an injunction, I’ll give you a little bill to pay, and that is what Nigerians are running from. Unfortunately, people worry over little lawyer’s fees, and suffer more serious consequences in the end.

Most Nigerians also believe that the legal system can be unnecessarily prolonged. How long will it take to get an injunction in such a situation?

To get an injunction doesn’t take that long. For instance, I handled a matter at the Federal High Court, where I filed an order for a mandatory injunction (Mareva injunction), for the arrest of a ship. I filed the application on that day; it was assigned the same day and I got the injunction that same day. So, Nigerians should feel free to explore the law for their rights and protection. Unfortunately, the regular high courts are not like that, because even when you file an application of urgency, you can hardly get immediate answer. The order I got on the same day was done at the Federal High Court, and that is because the rules of the court make provision for such application. You can also apply for an injunction at the magistrate court, but that may take up to three weeks, during which the damage you’re trying to forestall might have been done.

We also learnt that the gentleman who owns these dogs has been released on bail.

Yes. But that is probably because the law says you cannot detain a suspect for more than 24 hours. The only aspect that I agree is faulty is taking the matter to court without the complainant present to testify.  And I mentioned it to the commissioner of police. But I also understand that the complainant was busy attending to the affair of the injured boy.

Yeah, but he said he was not invited.

Yes, he was not invited and that is worrisome.

People, including a vet doctor, have been clamouring that the dogs should be killed and not returned to the society, much less to the owner, who as landlord will probably take them to the same house where they had wrecked the havoc. What does the law permit regarding this controversy?

I’d like to agree with the popular opinion and the vet doctor, but at the moment I don’t know which law to back it with. However, I think public policy and public interest should prevail. Public opinion maintains that a dog that has attacked a human being poses a risk to other human beings and should therefore be pulled down. Don’t forget that animals don’t have the same rights as human beings, and it’s very likely that not much will happen if they’re pulled down

There is also the aspect of the police that refuse to go on a rescue mission despite having guns. Can the police be sued in such situation?

Oh yes, the police can be sued if indeed you can prove that they were there at the time the dogs were attacking and still refused to go in, because that is an act of cowardice and therefore tantamount to negligence of duty. Don’t forget that the primary duty of the police is to protect.