In tribute to Zeus
I could sympathize with the Greensboro police officers who mourned the loss of their ace drug-sniffing chocolate Lab, Zeus (as chronicled in Eric Townsend's story Thursday).
I understand the realities of tight budgets, but too bad the city could have paid for Zeus's cancer diagnosis after he has served so admirably for so long.
This was, after all, a pooch who uncovered more than a million dollars' worth of illegal cash, not to mention illegal drug stashes.
True, the police department would have been criticized either way it went on this issue. (Not everyone likes or appreciates dogs -- as the overcrowded Guilford County Animal Shelter obviously attests.)
But it seems a shame not for the department to at least pay a share of Zeus's medical bills (an officer had to adopt the dog and do it on his own, a $1,100 bill for the diagnosis of a cancerous tumor).
Zeus was euthanized on Aug. 4.
This reminds me of a magificent police dog I encountered during a police ride-along in 2002. His name was Bear and it should have been.
Bear pinned down an armed robbery suspect single-pawed on that Friday night. The man was petrified.
Here's what I wrote back then:
There's been a robbery at a nearby Advance Auto Parts store. The suspect's on foot and armed with a 12-gauge, sawed-off shotgun.
Less than a minute later (Officer T.A.) Boyer pulls up to a house barely a block away. Several other cars and officers also have arrived. The officers pull their guns and disappear again into the night.
"We got 'im," someone yells. Thanks to a police dog named Bear.
The huge, 10-year-old Belgian Malinois recovered the shotgun first while tracking the suspect. Then he recovered a duffel bag stuffed with money and the parts store's security surveillance tapes. Then Bear recovered the fleeing suspect, who he cornered in the darkness between a house and a car. The man gave up without a fight.
Police discover a live round in the shotgun's chamber.
The officers exchange high fives. "Outstanding," one says.
But Boyer notes how unusual this is. "We got lucky," he says. "We all happened to be in the right place at the right time."
As it turns out we were real lucky. Bear and the entire police Canine Unit just happened to be training nearby on Meadowview Road. What kind of reward does the dog get for his trouble?
"`He gets to play with a little rubber ball," says Sgt. Eldon Presnell of the Canine Unit.
"He doesn't get a steak or anything."
Due to recent automated spamming attacks on our blogs, we are temporarily requiring commenters to authenticate themselves via TypeKey® before posting comments to any News & Record blog in order to prevent denials of service. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.