I located this story on Law Officer's facebook page but the original story was published on abc.com. You can read it here.
When a law enforcement officer becomes a K-9 officer they gain more than just a title and a dog, you gain a friend a family member. So what happens when the handler is killed? Well that depends on the department. Even though the K-9 lives with his partner and his family he is still the departments property. But the bonding and the training is done between one officer and one dog. So what does the department do. Well sometimes as in this story they give the dog to the family, other times they will reassign the dog to another handler.
In this instance a handler is killed in the line of duty. City officials have a decision to make on what to do with the dog. As the dog is there property and very valuable it sometimes makes the decision tougher to make. The city of St. Petersburg, Florida however decided to allow the dog to live with the handlers family. The family felt honored as the dog (Ace) is a very valuable asset to the community. I think the city made a wise choice.
Why do I feel that way? I work at the local Sheriff's Department. There I get to see the K-9 officer and the K-9 on a regular basis. You can feel the connection and when you hear him speak of the family and the K-9 you can hear that they think he is now part of the family. The cool thing about living with the K-9 is that you can take your K-9 home at the end of the day and at the beginning of the shift you do not have to leave your loyal friend home while your at work. But when you tear the dog away from its friend and master you are leaving a hole of hurt in the dog, and if you tear the family away from the dog, not only has the mother or father been taken away from them, but also a fond memory of all the good times that they have had together will have been taken away from them. This is why I think that the department made a good choice. When you take care of your employees family's. People will want to work for you.
To see the story of Ace, go to abc.com or click here
This is a very touching story. I had never really put much thought to K-9 officers, their dog, and the family as a whole. After reading the article, I do have to agree with you. Had the city officials made a different choice, the family would probably have been even more devastated and found it harder to cope.
ReplyDeleteWhen you think of things in this aspect though, it makes you wonder as to why, in some situations, the K-9s are reassigned. Part of it just doesn't seem right.
P.S. Great blog!