Throughout my career I was known to 'bend' the department rules a wee bit.
As an undercover cop I was assigned an undercover vehicle. One evening I went to the police department to
do some paperwork in the basement where no one else was expected to be. Contrary to department policy I decided to bring
my family pet, Krypto, with me. Krypto was a big old friendly white German Shepherd.
While there I monitored the police radio calls and realized my fellow investigators, assigned to a robbery investigation,
were covertly tailing a carload of gang members. The gang members were suspected of kidnapping employees of restaurants
in the Twin Cities area and forcing them to return to their businesses to unlock the safes and turn over the money.
They would then tie the victims with duct tape and leave them in the restaurants until they would be discovered in the morning.
It became apparent the surveillance cops needed assistance following these dangerous gangsters. I decided
to join the surveillance. There was no time to take my dog home so Krypto rode with me.
Shortly after I joined the surveillance things went badly. The bad guys spotted one of the surveillance cops.
They began chasing his vehicle! The officer radioed for immediate assistance and the supervisor in charge of the operation
ordered that the suspects be apprehended immediately. I was the closest car to the suspects and was very concerned about
the safety of the cop who was my very good friend.
I caught up with the suspect vehicle, activated the emergency lights on my car and pulled them over.
Crouching behind my open drivers door I began calling out the three suspects from the vehicle at shotgun point.
Upon my commands they were getting in prone positions on the pavement and all seemed to be going just like I have seen on
the "Adam-12" cop show.
Everything was going well until I caught a white streak leaping from my car. My dog Krypto knew it is time to play
whenever anyone lies on the ground. These three must have looked like great playmates for the big mutt. As she
approached them she hesitated because they were strangers to her. She began sniffing around their heads with her tail
wagging.
I knew I had to play this out and stay in charge. I screamed at the suspects "don't move or the dog will rip you
apart." With their heads on the pavement they could not see the happily wagging tail on the mutt.
As the assist officers arrived one cop trained his gun on what he believed to be the suspects dog. As
he trained the gun sights on the dog he suddenly recognized the dog and wondered what the hell Krypto was doing in the
middle of a felony stop on these major crooks.
The arrests actually went smoothly and the bad guys showed great fear of the big bad 'police canine.' It was discovered
the suspects were armed with loaded weapons. They were subsequently convicted of the kidnappings and robberies.
I dreaded the following morning when the police chief would read the police reports concerning the incident
and discover Krypto was a 'ride-a-long' in violation of the departments rule and regulations.. Sure enough the Chief
ordered me into his office for a 'closed door' admonishment session.
The chief asked me if my dog was in the middle of a felony stop in violation of department policy. I admitted the
same. He then asked me if the dog had jumped put of the squad car and approached the suspects as they were prone on
the ground. Again I admitted this was true. In apparent anger he berated me for placing the department in liability.
As he said "I know your dog. When your dog approached the suspects she could have licked their ears causing ear
infections' his face broke into a broad smile. I knew then I was 'off the hook'.
I thought the incident was forgotten until I retired from that agency. At my retirement gathering they called me
out in front of my fellow officers to receive a commendation plaque. The plaque turned out to be for Krypto!
Career commendations for me = 0
Career commendations for Krypto=1
Its a dogs life!
