Police Puppers: Stories of Crime-Solving Canines That Will Melt Your Heart
Sure, we all love a puppy in uniform, but have you ever considered that the impact of police dogs is far more significant than you may have imagined?
Police dogs are specifically trained to support police and law enforcement personnel, using their senses to search for drugs and explosives, locate missing people, discover crime scene evidence, and to attack and stop any person being targeted by the police.
The most commonly used breeds for police dogs are the German Shepherd, Belgian Malinois, Dutch Shepherd, and Retrievers. This selectivity is due to their courage, obedience, and intelligence, as they must remember several verbal cues and hand gestures in the line of duty. Hopefully the stories of these passionate pets will illustrate their cruciality in the world of case-cracking, and make you adore our furry friends even more!
Alex
Alex the German Shepherd unveiled an arson and four counts of second-degree murder where authorities suspected a tragic accidental fire. Alex arrived at the home of the Parsons’ in New York the morning after Eric Parsons had lost his wife and four children in a house fire. Alex immediately gestured toward Eric Parsons’ car, indicating that he sensed traces of an ignitable liquid accelerant on the driver’s seat. Upon further inspection of the house, Alex informed his team of more traces on the clothes of Eric, and on his children’s beds, by touching his nose to the surface and then sitting beside it. Eric Parsons was later convicted of arson and murder.
Déjà
When a young girl was dragged into the woods at 3a.m., Deputy Stone of the Rancho Cucamonga PD knew that his female bloodhound was going to be the only hope of finding her in the vast woodland. Deputy Stone and Déjà located the girl’s purse, and from then on Déjà’s incredible olfactory senses allowed her to guide the Deputy through the dense woodlands, to discover the girl still alive with her capturer. If not for Déjà’s incredibly strong senses and hard-working response, the young girl may not have been found in time.
Leena
Leena was rewarded with a new leather strap and a velvet bed for her incredible bravery and skill in assisting the Indo Tibet Border Police in a murder investigation. When Vivek of the Kushaliya Village did not return home from work on May 31st, 2020, a search party was launched who discovered him dead in a nearby field on June 1st. After tracking a scent from the crime scene, Leena led police directly to the street on which the murderers lived. Three men were arrested and confessed to the killing, claiming that Vivek’s motorcycle collided with their car and led to a heated argument. If not for Leena, police would never have found a link connecting these men to the victim.
Ravi
It was black labrador Ravi’s confidence which saved the life of a missing 40-year-old man in July 2020, as the Kottayam dog squad doubted his senses. When a man didn’t return home from work on July 20th, Ravi was called to catch his scent from his bike helmet which was found near his house, Ravi immediately ran 300 metres away to a dilapidated building and began barking, but his team believed the building was occupied and continued their search. Ravi was insistent upon returning to the building rather than searching elsewhere, and the man was later found severely dehydrated and confused inside the abandoned building. This wasn’t the first time Ravi’s senses have been unquestionable, as months prior he discovered the culprit of a theft as being a close family member of the victim, by smelling traces of the scent of the ornament which had been stolen on her fingers.
Stryker
In a classic police drug bust, Stryker and his team at the Lewisville Police Department were called to a suspicious trailer in February 2020, where Stryker carried out a free-air sniff of the surrounding area and located 1.2 million dollars worth of narcotics. Whilst Stryker’s efforts were described as ‘positively pawesome’, this is a frequent occurrence for K-9s in the policing business, as their olfactory senses are second to none after intensive training to uncover such illegal activities.
