The word got out

Yes the word got out, I can finally say I received a negative comment on my blog. Thanks to a distraught gentleman named Matt-Man. Thank you sir I will be looking forward to more of your useless commentary in the future. Seems funny though ole Matt and I seem to be one in the same, seems he was brought up a catholic, he for sure likes his liquid refreshment seems Wild Irish Rose is his preference, there we differ, as you all know a cold Brewski is my choice, the only thing keeping us from being buddies is his political preference, and I sure do not hold that against him. The problem of coarse is his eloquent description of me....LOL. Seems I am an A..hole. But that's ok that's why we are all Americans, Freedom Of Speech.
You know I could sit here and say things like where did the name Matt-Man derive from? ( The world wiping it's feet on you ) but I won't. I am a peace loving guy, who dealt with angry alcoholic people like Matt Man all my career, so I would not let a guy like him upset my day, as a matter of fact it gives me more to blog about. Thank you Matt for being the first negative comment to my blog, I will be looking forward to hearing from you again...

In continuation of my Law Enforcement experiences I will say K-9 was my life, the faith and the love my dogs gave me far exceeded anything a human partner could give, don't get me wrong there were many buddies that I would entrust watching my back and as recent pass shows will give their life to protect the citizens of Philadelphia, but the loyalty of a k-9 partner is without a doubt a sure thing. I could honestly say I never had any fear entering any situation with my k-9 by my side. As I said in my earlier blog Fritz and I worked the subways, he was 3 when we started working together and I retired him at age 12, he developed Hip Arthritis so he lived happily at home till he was 15 with my second partner Lupo.

First I'll explain the name Lupo, it is simple, Lupo is Latin for Wolf. In comparison to Fritz who was considered a hard dog, Lupo was a soft dog meaning he wasn't as aggressive as Fritz, now don't get me wrong he was there when I needed him only he wanted commands where Fritz deciphered a situation and acted on it, this was ok in some incidents by not so good in others, example lets say I was suckered punched and went down Fritz would see this action and react, where as Lupo would wait till I gave him the command to "get that sinner". Now the other toss of the coin, if I had to help someone let say an elderly lady who had fallen my holding her helping her up would set Fritz off where Lupo would sit calmly and watch. So you see each had it's benefits.

Lupo as you can see from his picture above was a proud k-9. He always sat with his chest out and a smile on his face. We worked the subways for about 4 years and the transit system finally decided to put there own Security department in the tubes which got us Philly guys out. After leaving the subway we K-9 officers finally got to do what all those weeks of training were meant to do, Patrol the streets of Philadelphia. It was funny I was in the department for approx. 12 years and I felt like a rookie. It was a whole new ballgame. It was brought up to me by a trainer that Lupo having the temperament he had would be good for Narcotics Detection, and he was right, my boy discovered and cleared tones of narcotics and drug money off the streets and Airport. He won several regional competitions against other departments.

Another function we could participate in was the Shriner's Hospital for Children.We the K-9 unit would go to Shriner's and put on a demo for the sick children. Shriner's is comparable to St Jude's, it takes care of children at no expense to the parents. What we do there is go into the hospital and wheel all the children out (as seen above )and in a picnic type atmosphere spend the day showing them what the dogs were trained for and to mingle with them letting them play with the dogs. It is a great time for the kids and I think even more for the officers.
I worked Lupo till he was 11 he was 1 when we trained together so he also had a long and good career as a Phila. Police K-9. I had to euthanize him at age 12 due to throat cancer. See you all next time

Mr. President Of The People ???

I had other topics to blog about, but instead, due to recent events, thoughts are festering in me that I feel I need to comment on. As most people who know me can tell you, I really don't publicly rant or rave my opposition to any political statements or decisions. I usually just act like a zombie and wonder what I, as one person, can do. Well, I think I was pushed to my limits with the Louis Gates fiasco. It was not so much as what did or did not happen for I wasn't there. And until the report comes out, I will reserve my opinion (unlike our Commander in Chief, our president of "ALL THE PEOPLE"). How in the name of the good Lord can a man of the people incite violence among the people he is sworn to protect. How can this man make a statement that he did not know all the particulars of a case then publicly, in front of the whole nation, call not one man, but the entire Cambridge Police Department, stupid. For the President of the United States this was a very unpresidential statement. As a retired Police officer, I also, as the President said, am a bit bias as to what went on in Gates' home. The break-in had nothing to do with it. Gates wasn't arrested for breaking in but for disorderly conduct. I sit back every day and read lots of comments and opinions from lots of my fellow bloggers and e-mails from friends and family alike all with their little pet names for Obama, but in my mind I wanted to give Mr. President the benefit of a doubt. No, I do not like many of the policies his staff (note I said his staff) enacted, but not being a scholar with a fancy degree in economy, although I do have a degree from the school of hard knocks, it was change I was looking for and hopefully it would turn the economy around. Well, no more, he showed his colors and I better stop now for I am getting ready to spit.

My first partner Fritz

To continue with my blog of July 5th I entered Philly PD K-9 in September of 73. Little did I know at that time it would be the hardest most physically and mentally draining training the PD had to offer. Let me explain, you see when you first get to the unit you are assigned a dog,totally untrained all this dog knows is yesterday he had a loving family and home and now for some reason he is placed in a kennel with some strange guy trying to hook a lead ( Leash ) on him. Well needless to say my Fritz was the last dog to exit his cage,it took me and 2 experienced handlers to get him out. one guy with the noose the other had his tail and I had the lead with instructions that when they leave go just keep walking, don't stop, go with him wherever he takes you, well let me say I wound up 5 miles away from the Academy, I don't know if I or he was more exhausted but we definitely had a mutual agreement that we had ran far enough, he pulling and me tugging. It was funny I knew then that he and I were a team. Upon arrival back at the kennel we were the laughing stock, most of the other handlers, I believe there were approx. 28 total in the class at least in the beginning had a day of actual training, sitting, downs,walking in a heal, but Fritz and I didn't care because we knew we would come out on top, at least in our minds we did. Training lasted 14 weeks it consisted of Patrol, agility, building searches, field searches, Tracking and of course what every Handler and K-9 lives for the attack training, oops I mean criminal apprehension.

Alaska The Beautiful

Hi all, well as you can guess by the photo's I am back from Alaska, I call it Alaska the beautiful, for one reason and one reason only, Alaska is beautiful. Getting there is a bit of a drag, my family and I started out at 5:30 am at Philadelphia International Airport and boarded a flight to Seattle a six hour flight,( which I will talk about in a moment) Arriving in Seattle we had a 3 hour layover till our next flight on Alaskan Airlines to Anchorage another 3 hour flight. Actually all went smoothly, the flights were on schedule the luggage was transferred from one plane to the other without incident, the takeoffs and landings were smooth and easy and even the turbulence going over the Rockies was at a minimum. Okay your right anyone who knows me knows I always complain about something. We flew to Seattle on US Airway, It all started when we paid $55.00 for all suitcases, not extra suitcases, but all suitcases then we were no sooner leveling off after takeoff when the flight attendants came down the isle offering liquid refreshments, anything from water to juice, coffee to soda all for a nominal fee of two Dollars, I started to think "hummmm". Now we are about two hours into the flight, the belly starts making strange sounds from way down, again the somewhat ageing flight attendants come down the isle offering sustenance for $7.00 of course, I believe it was what they called a Turkey Sausage on what they called a roll, oh yes they also had a bag of peanuts with the turkey I counted 7 nuts in the bag, um um good. Now I totally understand that this economy dictates cutbacks, raising prices and ways to make ends meet but can anyone tell me why when my wife and daughter were chilled and asked for a pillow and blanket they were told it would cost $7.00 apiece, now I thought that was a bit over doing it. Okay so much for the rants, now for the raves, landing in Anchorage, we were met by the ship companies (Royal Caribbean) representative, it was at this time I realized I was on vacation,because at this point I was treated like royalty, never had to touch a suitcase, and was chauffeured from place to place not told what to do but asked what we were doing next. Sounds great huh? it was. Well what I plan on doing is show several pictures of the trip on each blog and explain what you see. Today's blog pictures show Top Left: the Mendenhall Glacier, Top Right: me, my wife Anna, my daughter Lora and her husband Ed on the Mendenhall Glacier, Middle Left: Aerial View of a Mountain taken from a Helicopter, Middle Right: Town of Ketchikan, Our Stateroom

Gone North To Alaska

Just a quick note to say I hope you all had a great Independence day, mine was spent with some of the family at my sisters and Brother-in-laws house, Charlie and sister Cathy really went wild on the grub, all my favorites, burgers, chicken ribs, corn on the cob, potato salad, and we can not forget the all American Hot Dog, Add to that a lot of liquid refreshment lots of conversation and many laughs. It just doesn't get any better than that. Ok I did say I will keep it brief so I just want to let you know Anna and myself will be headed North to Alaska on Tuesday the 7th for a 10 day cruise. I will have lots to show and blog about on my arrival home. See you then

It was brought to my attention in a blog written by a good buddy of mine who shared a few moments of my life when we were stationed at Nha Trang Air Force Base in Viet Nam, our 40th anniversary is this year. What Pat is going to do every day that he can he's going to write about his experiences in Viet Nam from the trip to and the return home. "patsdailyrant.blogspot.com" Well this gave me an idea for my blog, seeing how I am having difficulty in getting ideas, what would be easier than blogging about something that I did for 35 yrs. No I won't bore you and myself with war stories which most non police would not believe anyway, I would rather blog about the good aspects of the job, the people we meet that are true supporters, the activities I have been part of such as Shriners Hospital demonstration for crippled children, The Thrill show, School demonstrations to show school age children what Police K-9's can do.

I guess the best place to start is from the beginning I entered the Police Academy on December 12, 1972, back in those days it didn't take a brain surgeon to get through, it was more like 10 weeks of the basics on crimes code and traffic code, we also learned enough hand to hand to get hurt, to think of it you never really learned the job till you went on the street, and there you had the tutelage of the old timers, they were actually the ones who got you through the first couple months. My first assignment was to march in the Saint Patties day parade, it was a cold windy March day, I remember it well, my first official duty as an officer was chase down the Mayor's hat who happened to be the police commissioner before being elected Mayor. I can report the assignment went flawless, the hat had some dirt on it but I got the job done. They were so impressed with the speed and ease at which I performed my first job they rewarded me by making my first assignment the subway unit. It was ok working in the Bowels of the city, rideing the train just wasn't the same as driving a sector car, the clickity clack of the train just was't the same as the wail of a siren and the lights flashing that really got the juices flowing and the adrenaline rising, that's were a rookie cop belongs. About 9 months later I was given the opportunity to go to the K-9 unit and train with my first K9 partner Fritz seen here on the Dillworth Plaza which is on the West side of City Hall. He was probably pound for pound my best partner, don't get me wrong, all my K9 partners were great just Fritz being the first will always have a special meaning to me, kind of like your first date. (boy that will get me into the caca with misses B). Fritz was a strong powerful dog, he loved my family, his job, he knew the good guys from the bad.I worked Fritz about 12 years and I had him till he died at age 15. Well I just got company, my grandaughter so I will continue later...