diesel, the k9 who died in the police car update

[ellen366]

so, i finally read a week's worth of newspapers today and here are the results of the internal investigation into this dog's death

1-the police chief had ordered the handler to remove the dog from the station b/c the dog smelled bad and that smell was permeating the entire police station

2-the car that had been assigned as a k9 unit had a history of AC failures twice before this; nonetheless, it was issued to the k9 handler and no alarm was put in it

3-the dog was checked on 2x before he died

4-the hood of the car may have been left down

So, this having been said, the police chief has suspended the k9 program for a while; it's reportedly a temporary measure; the policy and procedures have been rewritten and now the k9 officers must eat in their cars and kennels are being installed at the PD so officers have a place to leave their dogs when they must be at the station

A very sad situation; but what's very concerning is that the chief didn't own up to #1 and 2 from the beginning; that this became public knowledge only after the results of the investigation were made public

RIP Diesel; may your death bring sweeping changes to police agencies across this country so that no other dog must die as you did

Fox guarding the hen house.

[ladylaw203]

[quote=RIP Diesel; may your death bring sweeping changes to police agencies across this country so that no other dog must die as you did [/quote]

Will all respect. We do not need "sweeping" changes. There are thousands of we police k9 officers. You do not hear of this everyday. One checks one's car. I check mine every 15minutes or we relay if there are several of us. I have an air conditioned dog trainer and do not assume it is working. I continuously check it. Just something one has to do

[ellen366]

no offense taken; like you, i always checked my car; but not all k9 officers do; and AC car alarms are not infallible; murphy's law prevails; i've known too many officers who were very complacent and relied exclusively on the alarms, infrequently checking on their dogs and truly believing that the dogs were safe b/c the alarm had been installed; i'm not willing to trust an alarm w/a dog's life; i appluad you and your dept for checking on your dogs as you do; that's is how it should be

and you are very right, this is a rare occurrence and the majority of officers are very caring and conscientious; but not all are and i'd like to see policy changes to help prevent a tragedy like this from happening again, anywhere; policy changes would honor diesel's life and service to his community

i'm very upset w/ the chief who knowingly assigned that car as a k9 car; it had a history of 2 prior AC failures; it should never have been used w/o a complete AC system overhaul and the installation of the alarm; and the k9 officer should have been made aware of this history; the officer is both a new police officer and a new k9 officer; this was her 1st dog and she had him less than a year; this has been a devastating experience for her; i don't argue that she used poor judgement, she did; and she's paid an incredible price and will have to live w/her choice for the rest of her life