Officer Cletus, K-9 For Cookeville Police, Will Find You!
The Cookeville Police Department’s dogs manifest multiple talents.
Cletus, the dog we’re looking at today, makes tracking a complicated scent child’s play (or maybe that should be, ‘puppy play.’)
Instructor Dennis Guzlas, explained to notorious jewelry robber, Christy, that Cletus would be able to track her down by her scent.
So, being a very cooperative “jewelry robber,” Christy volunteered to rub a piece of gauze against her neck, and place it in an evidence bag.
(Cletus had to stay out of sight the whole time.)
Then Christy scampered several hundred yards down the road, a fleeing robber who knew Cletus would be on her trail, and darted and jigged to try to throw the poor hound off the scent.
Christy then hid behind a big pile of bricks.
Cletus was then brought to the start point in the parking lot from where the robber-ette departed.
The evidence bag, with the robber’s scent, was held in front of Cletus’s nose for about 1 second, while Cletus’s handler said, “Find ‘em!”
Cletus started off at a gentle lope, and ignoring all of the zigs and zags the jewel robber took, just followed a straight trail, only pausing to sniff around a little when the robber had made a few circles near the end.
In under 5 seconds, Cletus determined the proper trail, and cheerfully went over to uncover the little jewel thief behind the pile of bricks.
Walking back with “prisoner” in tow, Instructor Guzlas explained that thousands of cells fall off the human body every second.
He said imagine that he held a ketchup bottle full of talcum powder and as he walked along, he just sprayed the powder out.
That’s what it was like to Cletus when he was tracking Christy. And since most of the scent was carried by the wind anyway, Cletus just stayed with the main trail of human cell scent.
He explained that Cletus could have tracked her just as easily had she been on a bicycle or even a horse.
Just one more talented member of the Cookeville Police Department, we salute Good Ole Cletus, The Amazing Bloodhound.
Officers’ best friend: Police, Petland show off K9s, raise funds
Iowa City police officer Matt Hansen wears a special protective arm brace as he's attacked by Axel, a University of Iowa police dog controlled by Lt. Mike Smith, during a public demonstration Saturday in the parking lot in front of Petland in Iowa City.
Axel would sit on his haunches, stare and drool endlessly if University of Iowa police officer Mike Smith didn’t give the cue to stop.
The 3-year-old European German shepherd thinks he has found a bomb. Axel has been trained to locate it and then wait, Smith said.
“He’ll keep doing that until I give him this tennis ball,” said Smith, shielding a ball.
Police dogs are rewarded with balls, rather than snacks, Smith said. What Axel found was actually a prop that was part of a K9 officer demonstration on Saturday at Petland, 1851 Lower Muscatine Road.
Axel gets called into action frequently, Smith said. He routinely puts his sniffer to work at Kinnick Stadium and Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and within the past few months he has been called in for bomb scares and to locate bullet shells stemming from recent shootings in Iowa City.
“He gets a lot of use around town,” Smith said.
Patrons at Petland also got the chance to meet Becky, a 3-year-old Dutch shepherd from the Iowa City police squad.
“She’s a very sweet dog, but she can turn it on and off,” officer Matt Hansen told a young girl. “You have to be careful with police dogs.”
Mike Kline of Iowa City visited to Petland with his daughter, Sarah, 10. They just wanted to play with a puppy, Sarah Kline said, but they also go to meet the police dogs.
“She’s sweet. She can be kind of aggressive sometimes, but she’s sweet,” Sarah said of Becky.
Police dogs are trained to find drugs, apprehend suspects, track suspects, clothing or objects. They respond to commands in Dutch.
There are four police dogs in the area, two with UI and two with Iowa City police.
Ron Solsrud, the owner of Petland, has been hosting the event for a few years in conjunction with a fundraiser. Petland buys dog food for all four of the dogs year-round, and money from the fundraiser could go toward something else, such as a bullet proof vest for the dogs, Solsrud said.
“It’s an honor to support the K9 units,” Solsrud said.
Bosco deserves support, respect, thanks
Bosco is a special dog.
The K-9 officer with the Zanesville Police Department is getting special care, too, from the doctors at Ohio State University Veterinary Hospital.
Bosco and his partner, Officer Mike Schiele, were shot Sunday evening in the line of duty. Schiele was shot once in the upper left leg and is recovering at home. Bosco was shot twice, once in the neck which shattered his spinal column and once in the chest. Initially paralyzed after the shooting, Bosco is making limited progress, and the next few weeks are critical.
The outpouring of support and offers to help Bosco over the past several days has been staggering. People are donating money for his medical bills, offering to care for him should he make it through this ordeal, and sending him cards and gifts to the hospital.
Yes, Bosco is special, but he’s so much more.
He’s Schiele’s friend, companion and partner, but he’s our dog, too. A little piece of Bosco belongs to each resident in this community. And a huge part of him belongs to the Armstrong family.
Bosco was purchased after Cpl. David Armstrong was killed Feb. 2, 2007, in Iraq. David’s family knew how important the K-9 units were in Iraq to the soldiers and how David dreamed of being a K-9 officer at a police department when he returned.
Through the Armstrongs’ efforts, David’s dream was realized when Bosco was purchased from community donations.
Bosco not only went through 800 hours of intense training in detecting narcotics and tracking suspects, but he also had an additional 80 hours of training just with Schiele.
Those hours not only bonded Schiele and Bosco for life, but Bosco has been bonded to the community for life.
Each year, the Armstrong family conducts a fundraiser for the K-9 unit, and the response is always amazing.
Bosco is not just a dog who rode in the back of a patrol car. He was, and still is, a great ambassador for the police department.
Bosco has gone into our schools, allowing the children to pet him and get to know him. Bosco, as the other K-9 units in the county and city, has been a valuable tool in letting children see the police are there to help, not just to arrest those breaking the law. If one of those children were lost, Bosco — with his unique tracking skills — would be leading the search party.
Bosco has attended a legion of community events, open houses and festivals, his tail always wagging as he greeted those coming and going.
Bosco is not paid, receives no benefits and asks for nothing from anyone. Yet he was willing to lay down his life to protect his partner.
Bosco has kept the dream of David’s alive for not just his family and fellow soldiers, but for our community.
For that, this special dog deserves our support, our respect and our thanks.
Police Pull Baby From Burning Car
Prince William County Police say one of their officers pulled a baby from a burning car Thursday morning, after the driver crashed while trying to speed away from a radar speed trap.
It happened about 5:45 a.m., when Officer Heath Oyler was running radar on Yorkshire Lane in Manassas and he saw a car approaching him at 40 miles an hour in a 25 mph zone. Police say when the speeding car made a right turn onto Bull Run Road, Officer Oyler activated his emergency equipment but the driver did not stop.
Police say the driver then turned onto West Rugby Road and began to rapidly accelerate. Police say Officer Oyler did not pursue the car and lost sight of it, but as he continued down West Rugby Road, Officer Oyler came upon the crashed vehicle.
According to a statement released by Prince William County Police, as Oyler approached the car, he noticed the car had begun to catch on fire and also observed the driver attempting to flee the scene. Oyler approached the driver who had run from the car, but had fallen down due to his injuries. The driver yelled to Oyler that his baby was in the car. Oyler then left the driver to return to the car to rescue the 8-month-old baby girl from the crashed vehicle.
The driver sustained injuries that required him to be transported to the hospital. The baby was also checked out at the hospital but was relatively unharmed and was treated and released to her mother. Police say the suspect, identified as Gustavo Adolfo Diaz-Bautista, 23, of Centreville, is still in the hospital in stable condition.
Police say Diaz-Bautista faces a variety of charges, including
Felony eluding, Felony child abuse/neglect, and driving on a revoked operator’s license. Diaz-Bautista was ordered held without bond, pending his next court date in mid-September.
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