Scottsdale PD officer Rocco
We’ve all had bad days on the job, but how bad that day is often depends on your line of work. With most of our jobs, a bad day doesn’t mean being physically or even mortally injured, but that is the reality for law enforcement officers all around this country. But that doesn’t just mean it’s human beings in the line of fire…
One of Scottsdale’s best and bravest law enforcement officers recently found this out the hard way. But it wasn’t a man or woman, it was Rocco, one of Scottsdale’s K-9 officers. Even more unfortunately, he was hit with friendly fire.
Rocco and his human handler were responding to a threat in Scottsdale where a suspect would not comply and Rocco went to retrieve him. As the suspect reached into the back of his car the human officer fired into the car, hitting both Rocco and the suspect. The suspect perished, thankfully Rocco did not, but he was taken to the veterinary hospital to recover.
While often overlooked by the citizenry, K-9 units have developed into a unique, value-adding component of law enforcement. With their incredible ability to be trained to smell very specific compounds, they are able to detect items as diverse as electronic devices due to the presence of triphenylphosphine oxide to various types of weapons and narcotics. They are also often equipped with tactical vests including a camera and a microphone, allowing them to get footage and audio in difficult-to-reach places where a human can’t necessarily get to.
While generally the domain of German Shephards, Scottsdale police recruited Belgian Malinois into their department. In order to be ready to patrol the streets, they go through a total of 560 hours of school as well as 10 hours a week of continuing education to keep their skills sharp.
It looks as though good boy Rocco will make a full recovery, but this serves as a very real reminder of the potential dangers not just to all law enforcement but in the city of Scottsdale, a city generally hailed as being very safe but not one that is devoid of any danger. While violent crime is at about half of the national average, every single encounter is a potential life-threatening one.
While criticizing law enforcement was en vogue for quite some time, we should be thankful that we live in a city that didn’t ride that wave of criticizing law enforcement first. No human (or even dog) is perfect but few get the level of criticism for imperfections like police officers. There are few professions that have constant stress and potential danger every day like law enforcement, and not just for humans. Scottsdale Police has earned our respect.