In the early hours of Saturday, April 6, a fight took place in Brighton, to which police dogs were properly deployed.

In the course of it, a youth sustained a serious bite from a Sussex Police dog.

Unfortunately, there are details surrounding this incident which we cannot release at this stage, particularly as we do not want to compromise the Police Complaints Authority investigation.

However, the purpose of this letter is to apologise for causing any distress and to assure readers that the decision to put Bruce to sleep was made only after much thought and consideration.

We have a formal review process which we invoke after such incidents and that process includes full and objective review of a dog's training and working history.

An essential part of this process is that the dog has to pass a safety test.

Regrettably, Bruce did not and therefore the decision had to be made and endorsed by myself that to put him to sleep was the only safe option.

The decision was based on his failure of the safety test, not what took place on the Saturday morning, as passing that test is a clear requirement for a police dog to perform its duties.

We have had occasions where dogs have bitten people before and have not subsequently failed the safety test so they have not been put to sleep.

If any of our dogs proves, at some stage, to be unsuitable for police work, we will go to considerable efforts to seek to place them either with people or an organisation where they can carry on - this is not uncommon.

However, we cannot do so where the issue is safety and in those small number of cases, we have to take the harder decision.

I understand some people believe we should have considered passing Bruce on with some form of indemnity.

I do not believe we can so easily pass on our responsibilities when we have concerns over the safety of an animal; even were that to allow us to avoid any legal responsibilities, it would not deal with the most important central issue: That we have a moral obligation to do all we can to minimise risks to the public.

I am aware some people have expressed concern over the way I was, accurately, reported as expressing myself in The Argus article. I accept what I said could have been seen as insensitive or clumsy, for which I am sorry.

I was seeking to put across that we have to look at police dogs in a totally different light from how we view our own dogs. Police dogs are working dogs, the approach to and, standards of which, have to be seen in such a light.

I apologise for any offence caused - it was not intended. I hope this letter goes some way towards explaining why it was inevitable that Bruce had to be put to sleep: The ultimate test for us had to be the safety of people.

-Nigel Yeo, Assistant Chief Constable, Sussex Police