Book'm, Doggo. Canine Solves Crime, Apprehends Felon

Book'm Doggo. Canine Solves Crime, Apprehends Felon

Monday, May 21, 2001 - USA

ALCOA, TN — A crime spree came to a swift and peaceful end in Blount County on Friday, thanks to one courageous canine cop.

Mako, the K-9 detective, single-handedly found the evidence, uncovered the suspect's hideout and possibly averted a hostage situation by chasing the suspect and apprehending him without anyone being injured.

Now that's what I call a police dog. No disrespect intended toward the (human) cops, but it seems like all they really did was slap the cuffs on the crook and give Mako a ride back to the precinct.

At 5:39am on Friday, Field Training Officer Dek Melton, Officer Mark Davis and Officer Richard Rose were investigating a fight call at a residence on East Edison Street when a vehicular hit-and-run incident occurred just down the block at East Edison and Springbrook Road.

The police officers jumped into their cruisers and pursued the fleeing suspect who was driving a white, four-door Mazda at a high speed on the wrong side of the road. The Driver of the Mazda apparently lost control of the car, ran up over a curb and nearly hit a house before he abandoned the car and attempted to flee on foot.

Arriving on the scene, Officer Melton shouted, "Police! Stay there." The suspect turned, looked at three policemen and then ran away.

The officers gave chase but eventually lost the man somewhere in the vicinity of East Edison. After circling the neighborhood without success, they decided to call in the pro.

Mako is one of about 8 police dogs serving the Alcoa Police Department and surrounding areas in Blount County. The Blount County Sheriff's K-9 Special Forces division trains German Shepherds, Dutch Shepherds, Labrador Retrievers, Belgian Malinois and Belgian Laekenois to do everything from search/rescue to arson investigation to narcotics detection.

They brought Mako to the abandoned Mazda, where the dog "hit" on the center console. Exhibit A: a suspicious bag of leafy, green stuff—marijuana (I wonder if Mako picked it up with the end of a pencil like they always do on TV).

Next, Mako locked on to the scent. Piece of cake. He tracked the suspect's path to a residence on East Edison Street.

Pictured above are Deputies Rusty Borden, John Tallent and "Alex" of the Blount County K-9 Unit.

As the dog and Officer Melton approached the residence, a woman from inside began screaming that there was an unidentified man in the house. The police entered the house and spotted the suspect who again began to flee.

This time, Officer Melton didn't mess with any of the "Police! Stay there" drivel. Instead, he shouted that he was about to release the dog.

The man stopped, put up his hands and laid down on the floor.

As it turns out, the suspect, 22-year-old Roderick Lee Jackson II, had 13 outstanding arrest warrants for violation of probation from a previous conviction as well as several contempt of court violations.

Now add "leaving the scene of an accident", "reckless driving", "resisting a stop", "evading arrest", "driving on a suspended license", and "possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance".

Busted!

Way to go, Mako. Someone ought to give that dog a promotion.

Read more about the Blount County K-9 force and some of their other amazing accomplishments at
Blount Co. Sheriff's Office Special Teams

§§§

Related articles

DogsInTheNews.com is brought to you by Canine Nation

www.DogsInTheNews.com	Volume I - Issue 5	May 2001