COMBINED LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

 

PATROL REPORT

 

On Sunday 23 March 2008, at 13.30 hours a man who identified himself as Joseph Alba, entered Police Station # 2 in Monrovia and said that a group of wild dogs had attacked his son. The man was escorted to the interview room by the duty officer. The man told the officer that at 10.30 hours his son, John Alba, had been playing in front of their house located at Low Street, when suddenly three dogs attacked his son. The man said that the largest of the three dogs, a white male, approximately 40 kilos in weight, seemed to be the pack leader of the three dogs. The other two dogs were not as big as the pack leader, and only weighed about 25 kilos each. One of them was all brown and the other was black with a white spot on its chest. They were not wearing collars or identification tags. The officer asked if the man’s son was still at home. The man informed the officer that an ambulance had taken his son to a local hospital for care and that his wife had gone with the boy in the ambulance.
 

FOLLOW-UP REPORT # 1

On Sunday 23 March 2008, at 14.30 hours, a Liberian National Police (LNP) officer was sent to the local hospital to inquire about the nature of the boy’s injuries. The doctor told the officer that the child had been bitten in the face and needed 12 stitches to close that wound. He had also been bitten on both arms and severely bitten on the right hand. There were two areas on the right arm that required three stitches each and the index finger on the child’s right hand was being surgically repaired at that time. The officer asked the doctor to call the police station with more information if there was any change in the condition of the child.

 

FOLLOW-UP REPORT # 2

An LNP officer interviewed the child’s mother, Regina Alba, at the local hospital immediately after interviewing the doctor. She told the officer that her son was playing with a small red ball in front of their house when three dogs attacked him. She said that she had seen the dogs in the area the day before, and that they had tried to bite other people. Regina also stated that she yelled at the dogs during their attack on her son and tried to beat them off with a stick, but they did not stop attacking him. The officer noticed that the mother’s left hand had also been bitten. Regina was treated my medical staff immediately after the interview.

 

FOLLOW-UP REPORT # 3

On Sunday 23 March 2008, at 18.00 hours, two police officers from Station # 2 were sent to Low Street to investigate the group of dogs that had attacked the child earlier that day. Upon arrival, they noticed a black dog with a white spot on its chest running into an abandoned building on the west side of the street with a red ball in its mouth. The officers proceeded into the building and saw all three dogs together, fighting over the red ball. The first officer yelled at the dogs and the largest one, the white dog turned to face the officers and started growling. The officers could see that there were no collars or identification tags on any of the dogs. Suddenly, the white dog attacked the two officers. The first officer drew his 9mm pistol and fired three times, killing the large white male dog. As the first officer had fired his pistol, the other two dogs began to attack. The second officer fired his 9mm weapon at the remaining two attacking dogs five times, killing them both.

 

FOLLOW-UP REPORT # 4

On Monday 24 March 2008 at 13.00 hours around 50 people assembled outside the Main Police Headquarters in Monrovia protesting against the dog problems in the city.  During the demonstrations they shouted slogans about why the authorities did not do more to stop the number of wild dogs running around Monrovia.  They complained about how unsafe it was for children to play outside. The Station Commander approached the leader of the demonstration, Ms. Elisabeth Johnson, and said that they had to stop their activities as they were unlawful.  The demonstrators, after some discussion, accepted the order from the police and left the area about 14.15 hours.

 

QUESTIONS:

 

Q1:      How many dogs attacked the boy?

 

Q2:       How heavy was the leader of the dogs?

 

Q3:       What were the colors of the dog initially recognized by the police officers on 23 of March?

 

Q4:       Which part of the mother’s body was bitten?

 

Q5:       What were the type and the caliber of the weapon used by police officers?

 

Q6:       How many stitches in total did the child receive at the local hospital?

 

Q7:       What was the tool used by Ms. Alba to protect her son?

 

Q8:       How many persons were injured during the dog attack?

 

Q9:       In what type of the building were the dogs shot?

 

Q10:     How many rounds of ammunition were fired at the dogs?