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Christopher T George
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chrisg
Post Number: 1235
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 23, 2004 - 9:31 pm: |       |
Here is a story out of Sydney, Australia, that is both heartwarming and upsetting at the same time, about a police dog named Titan who died in the line of duty trying to subdue an armed neo-Nazi.
Police dog goes down taking nazi off the streets
By Les Kennedy
Sydney Morning Herald
December 24, 2004
White supremacist Luke Curtis thought he was unstoppable - until he met Police Dog 33, a German shepherd known to his handler as Titan.
Curtis had told his girlfriend he would chop up two men with an axe to show her what he was really like. He then took an axe and threatened her father.
Early on Thursday he stepped out of his home in Barbara Boulevard, Seven Hills with a carving knife in each hand ranting neo-Nazi slogans.
The police had him surrounded and were prepared to do anything to bring him down without using bullets.
As the 23-year-old apprentice boilermaker approached the police line that had been placed around the house seven hours earlier, officers shot him with an electric charge from a dart gun. He kept coming and kept ranting.
Police shot him three times with a "bean bag" shot-gun.
But Curtis kept coming, and broke through the police line, still holding the knives.
Senior Constable Sean McDowell then set Titan on his heels. The three-year-old attack dog had served 18 months on the force and was a pet to Constable McDowell's two young children when kennelled at his home.
Titan chased Curtis for about 50 metres before biting into his left arm and forcing him to drop one of the knives. But Curtis plunged the other blade three times into Titan's chest.
By then police had caught up and managed to wrestle Curtis onto the road as he struggled and screamed. But the damage had been done. Titan was dying.
The police account of the siege and Titan's role in capturing Curtis were revealed in a statement of facts read by Magistrate Jennifer Betts when Curtis appeared in Blacktown Court on Thursday charged with nine offences including abduction and aggravated cruelty to an animal.
The Police Commissioner, Ken Moroney, said that Titan's body would be sent to a taxidermist for preservation then put on display at the NSW Police Academy.
He also announced the creation of a Titan Memorial Award, which would be presented each year to the best handler and dog for outstanding police work.
Ms Betts said she was alarmed at Curtis's neo-Nazi ravings and that the offence had happened while on parole for assaulting police and carrying a knife in a public place.
"Certainly the welfare and protection of the community is paramount," she said in refusing bail and ordering Curtis to reappear in Penrith Local Court on January 14.
(Message edited by ChrisG on December 23, 2004)
(Message edited by ChrisG on December 23, 2004)
Christopher T. George
North American Editor
Ripperologist
http://www.ripperologist.info
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Christopher T George
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chrisg
Post Number: 1236
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 23, 2004 - 9:45 pm: | |
Titan ... 18 months of service before being killed.
Christopher T. George
North American Editor
Ripperologist
http://www.ripperologist.info
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Dan Norder
Inspector
Username: Dannorder
Post Number: 450
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Friday, December 24, 2004 - 1:32 pm: | |
Poor dog.
I think the Australian police were entirely too easy on the criminal.
Dan Norder, Editor
Ripper Notes: The International Journal for Ripper Studies
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Christopher T George
Assistant Commissioner
Username: Chrisg
Post Number: 1238
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 24, 2004 - 3:14 pm: | |
Hi Dan
I entirely agree with you, that the police should have had live ammunition on hand to take care of a person with a weapon who just kept coming. What they had available to deal with this incident -- described as a dart gun and a "bean bag" shot-gun -- is laughable. A function, sadly I suppose, of the "sensitive" politically correct approach to police work. 
All my best
Chris
(Message edited by ChrisG on December 24, 2004)
Christopher T. George
North American Editor
Ripperologist
http://www.ripperologist.info
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