To make an attack on a K-9 officer a felony

HB 2628 amends West Virginia law to classify attacks on police service canines (K-9 units) as felonies. The bill adds "police service canine" to the definition of "law-enforcement officer" for protection purposes and increases penalties for intentionally harming them while on duty. Specifically, malicious assaults causing injury to a K-9 would carry 3-15 years in prison, up from misdemeanor penalties for similar attacks on human officers. This directly affects K-9 units and their handlers by granting them the same legal protections as human law enforcement officers. The bill does not change existing protections for human officers but extends felony-level penalties to attacks targeting K-9s.