A special graduation was held at the New York Police Academy on Nov. 6. The graduates are not officers, but those with whom officers have one of the strongest bonds.
Twelve fuzzy graduates from the Counterterrorism Bureau Canine Units are officially ready for duty. Each named after a police officer who died in the line of duty.
It’s a tradition to keep the fallen heros’ legacy.
“People come up to the officer and the dog and they ask two questions: Can I pet your dog? And what’s your dog’s name?” Chief of Counterterrorism James Waters said. “The answer to the first question is, no you can’t pet the dog. He/She is working. His name is…and that gives each and every officer, each and every handler an opportunity to say that officer’s name and tell that officer’s story. And that’s so very important to us.”
Law enforcement has been getting help from police K9 dogs for more than 100 years. And the dogs have been updating their skills to deal with modern crimes.
“K9 Q is an electronic storage detection K9. He specializes in finding anything that stores memory, such as hard drives, cell phones, USBs, SD cards, micro SD cards,” officer Capursi explained.
And the roles they play are often crucial. Last month, a heroic K9 named Conan cornered ISIS leader al-Baghdadi, who later killed himself. President Donald Trump tweeted last week that Conan will visit the White House very soon.
With reporting by Penny Zhou
