{"id":10855,"date":"2016-01-25T18:09:35","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T23:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=10855"},"modified":"2016-01-27T17:37:06","modified_gmt":"2016-01-27T22:37:06","slug":"police-k9-dog-deaths-already-high-in-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/?p=10855","title":{"rendered":"Police K9 Dog Deaths Already High in 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"jethro-and-his-partner-ryan-davis\"

Canton, Ohio K9 Jethro with Handler Ryan Davis by his side. K9 Jethro did not survive his wounds<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

Update: \u00a0Omaha K9 killed 1\/25\/2016.\u00a0 <\/span>The year 2016 is not starting out well for police K9 dogs in the U.S.\u00a0 Since the beginning of January, three<\/del>\u00a0four K9’s have already been killed by hostile gunfire.\u00a0 In all of 2015<\/i>, a total of four working dogs died by gunfire, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page<\/a>.\u00a0 Of the 26 K9’s killed in 2015, one was poisoned and one was stabbed, in addition to the others who died from shootings or accidental causes.\u00a0 The average number of police dogs shot to death during the last decade was 3.2 annually.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we take for granted the indispensable role these trained animals play in law enforcement.\u00a0 K9 dogs perform a function that cannot be duplicated by man or machinery. Their keen olfactory senses, coupled with above-average intelligence and physical stamina, make it possible for them to locate and indicate hidden persons and contraband.\u00a0 K9’s protect handlers and citizens alike.\u00a0 Their mere presence can be a deterrent to violence.<\/p>\n

A K9 handler is charged with protecting the well-being of his four-legged partner.\u00a0 We do not knowingly deploy them against armed adversaries unless there is an extreme exigency.\u00a0 Despite that, the dogs are front and center when we go into harm’s way.\u00a0 Just as we cannot prevent all officer deaths, some working dogs will also pay the ultimate price each year.<\/p>\n

I was once ordered by a shift commander to put my dog into an apartment to capture a suspect wielding a shotgun.\u00a0 I respectfully refused and told him that I would lead my SWAT guys into the apartment instead, since that would be the proper response.\u00a0 A dog cannot defend himself against a firearm.<\/p>\n

A former K9 supervisor of mine was a Marine veteran of the Vietnam War.\u00a0 He saw combat alongside military dogs.\u00a0 He told us the K9’s, who had their vocal cords removed for noise discipline, were brought forward to point out the enemy, but, when possible, taken to the rear when the bullets actually flew.\u00a0 A trained dog is not just a piece of equipment to be needlessly sacrificed.<\/p>\n

It is difficult for me to explain the bond between a handler and his K9.\u00a0 It transcends pet ownership, I think, because of the dangerous nature of the job that is shared.\u00a0 There are moments when that dog is the only back-up you have when things go sideways.\u00a0 They may also be the only friend you have on a lonely night in the cruiser.<\/p>\n

We spend more time with our K9 partners than we do with spouses or family.\u00a0 It is an experience that goes both ways.\u00a0 Your dog depends solely on you for companionship, love, strength, and direction.\u00a0 And treats.\u00a0 I joke that my dogs were better partners than most human ones.\u00a0 Was that a joke?<\/p>\n

It was my privilege to handle police K9 dogs and supervise those who did for a third of my law enforcement career.\u00a0 It pains me to see these magnificent animals perish at the hands of criminals, but the service they provide is necessary.\u00a0 I hope that these recent deaths, in such a short period, are an unfortunate anomaly and not part of a trend.<\/p>\n

Randall<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: \u00a0Omaha K9 killed 1\/25\/2016.\u00a0 The year 2016 is not starting out well for police K9 dogs in the U.S.\u00a0 Since the beginning of January, three\u00a0four K9’s have already been killed by hostile gunfire.\u00a0 In all of 2015, a total of four working dogs died by gunfire, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.\u00a0 Of the 26 K9’s killed in 2015, one was poisoned and one was stabbed, in addition to the others who died from shootings or accidental causes.\u00a0 The average number of police dogs shot to death during the last decade was 3.2 annually. Sometimes we take for granted the indispensable role these trained animals play in law … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[587,333,330],"class_list":["post-10855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-k9","category-street","tag-k9-dog-shot","tag-k9-team","tag-police-k9"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28xkp-2P5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10855"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10888,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10855\/revisions\/10888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thinblueflorida.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}