Police dog stabbed in line of duty, youths charged
A Calgary police K9 Unit dog will recover but may never return to active duty after being stabbed multiple times in the head while chasing a break-in suspect Sunday, police say.
Police responded to a break-in at Grant MacEwan school in Falconridge about 2 a.m., and had set up a perimeter around the building when two people, both males, began to flee on foot.
Staff Sgt. James Lines said Jester, a German shepherd who has been with the force for five years, gave chase and was stabbed multiple times with a knife during the pursuit.
Jester was rushed to a veterinary hospital with life-threatening injuries. The animal’s condition has since been upgraded to stable.
“He’s up and walking around and he’s back with his owner,” said Lines. “(The owner) is taking it pretty hard but Jester is going to be fine.”
According to his bio from the 2017 K9 calendar, Jester, who specializes in patrol and drug detection, loves his job, along with “chasing a ball, chewing on a bone and belly rubs.”
“I love to track: people, evidence, drugs, whatever they need me to find, I’ll find it,” the bio reads. “I get called out hundreds of times a year to dangerous situations like robberies, break and enters and weapons calls.”
Lines said it’s unclear whether Jester will return to active service, but they are hopeful.
The suspect accused of stabbing the dog, a young offender, received minor injuries. However, Lines couldn’t elaborate on the nature of those injuries.
Both suspects, neither of whom can be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, are in police custody and will be charged with break and enter offences, said Lines. As well, Lines said, the suspect accused of stabbing Jester will be charged under Section 445 of the Criminal Code, dubbed Quanto’s Law, which deals with injuring a police animal in the execution of its duties.
The law, which came into effect in 2015, is named after an Edmonton police dog stabbed to death while chasing down a suspect in a parking lot.
Before the new law, animal cruelty was the strictest charge possible for anyone who killed or injured police dogs, horses or other service animals.
Under Quanto’s Law, the maximum penalty is five years in jail.
The Calgary Police K9 Unit has 22 dogs in roles ranging from general patrol to specialty detection work. The force normally uses German shepherds, but has also used Belgian Malinois and Golden retrievers.
“Our police service dogs are used a lot in the execution of our duties. They’re a tool for us, a partner for us, and they’re deployed quite often, whether it is doing a search or apprehending a suspect,” said Lines.
According to the latest data from 2011, canine members were deployed 8,571 times and were directly responsible for the apprehension of 358 suspects.