Captain Tom Tennant, 51

Woodburn Oregon Police Department

Captain Tennant was killed on December 12, 2008, when a bomb detonated while he was examining the device.  Captain Tennant, a 28 year veteran police officer, is survived by his wife, two daughters, and son.

Senior Trooper Bill Hakim, 51

Oregon State Police

Trooper Hakim died on December 13, 2008, from injuries he received a day earlier when a bomb detonated inside a bank. Trooper Hakim and other officers were examining the device when the explosion occurred. He leaves behind a wife, son, and daughter.

Our thoughts and prayers are also with Woodburn police chief who was critically injured in the blast.

Officer Joseph Sanders, 29

California Highway Patrol

On December 15, 2008, Officer Sanders was struck and killed by a vehicle was he was directing traffic at an accident scene. Officer Sanders is survived by his expectant wife and three children.

Officer Mark Simmons, 30

Amarillo Texas Police Department

Officer Simmons died on December 17, 2008, from injuries he sustained in March 2005. Officer Simmons’ patrol vehicle was rammed by a suspect’s car that was involved in a pursuit with other officers. He is survived by his two children and parents.

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Thanks to ODMP

Officer Patrick McDonald, 30

Philadelphia Police Department

Officer McDonald was killed on September, 23, 2008 when he attempted to apprehend a fleeing suspect. The officer caught the suspect, a parole violator who was wanted for assaulting two police officers, after a brief foot chase. During a scuffle the suspect shot Officer McDonald several times with a .45 caliber handgun. He continued to fire even as the wounded officer lay dying on the pavement. The killer then stole a bicycle and fled the scene. Later, he engaged in a shootout with sheriff’s deputies who eventually shot and killed him.

Officer McDonald was an eight year veteran.

Officer Kristine Fairbanks, 51

United States Department of Agriculture – Forest Service Law Enforcement & Investigations

The death of Officer Fairbanks on September 20, 2008 has hit a member of The Graveyard Shift family pretty hard. Police Chief Ken Lewis of Rogue River, Oregon was good friends with this fallen officer and her family. Chief Lewis, a fellow author and regular visitor and contributor to our blog, had this to say earlier in the week:

Sometimes I forget…or simply choose not to think about…how dangerous this profession of law enforcement really is. I have lost another friend, Christine Fairbanks, a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer, who was killed in the line of duty yesterday afternoon. I knew her and her husband, Brian Fairbanks, both very well when I was an officer on the Olympic Peninsula and lived in Forks, WA., where they still live. Brian is also a law enforcement officer with Washington State.

Chris was checking a suspicious vehicle yesterday afternoon on a remote mountain road near Sequim in Clallam County, WA when the driver shot and killed her. He in turn was shot and killed later in the evening by two deputies at a convenience store. He had apparently also killed a man in order to steal the van
he was in when Chris stopped him.

After eight years of marriage my wife is finally starting to understand why I do strange things like take a loaded pistol and leave it on a chair hidden beneath the towels next to the hot tub were basking in at a remote mountain cabin while on vacation. Why my Glock 9mm is just like an American Express Card…because I never leave home without it. Yet still, with all the precautions officers take, both on and off duty, this incident only goes to prove that we can never be cautious enough.

In her career Chris made thousands of contacts like this with motorists, many of which probably seemed at the time to be potentially more dangerous than this one. But this man managed to take her by surprise, to shoot first, and so now she is dead. The reason she stopped the van was because it had no rear license plate; the suspect had obviously taken it off because he had just killed the van’s owner.

I would never have approached that van alone, and if circumstances had forced me to, I would have had my Glock out of the holster, gripped in both hands and ready to fire. But I don’t want to second guess her, maybe she did just that. Maybe the guy emerged from cover outside the van and ambushed her, or shot her through a rear window as she approached. Thank God for the two Clallam County Deputies who crossed paths with this psychopath, had the courage to stand their ground and exchange gunfire with him, and killed him.

Ken Lewis

Officer Fairbanks leaves behind a husband and a fifteen year-old daughter.

Deputy Adam William Klutz, 25

Caldwell County North Carolina Sheriffs Office

Deputy Klutz was shot and killed on September 19, 2008 while responding to a 911 call. His killer later committed suicide. Deputy Klutz is survived by his parents.

Dogs used for law enforcement are trained to perform a variety of duties. One of those assignments is patrol. Patrol dogs are the canines used to apprehend criminals, assist with crowd control, track fleeing suspects, and search buildings or land areas for criminals who are hiding from the police. These aggressive dogs are are the biters.

The most popular breeds used for patrol work are:

German Shepherd – The Shepherd was bred for its intelligence and to protect herds from predators. In the canine world the Shepherds intelligence is surpassed only by Border Collies and Poodles. Their ability to learn commands quickly makes them an excellent choice for police work.

Belgian Malinois – These 65 -75 lb dogs are bred as working dogs, for protection and police work.

Rottweiler – originally bred in Germany as a herding dog, but was often used as a beast of burden for hauling wood and other items to market. Very loyal and aggressive breed.

A dog’s nose has approximately 200 million scent receptor cells. Humans have about 5 million. Because of this large number of scent receptors, dogs have the unique ability to discern one scent over other, even when there are several different items around. For example, we smell a pot of delicious homemade soup cooking. A dog smells the individual ingredients – onions, meat, tomatoes, carrots, etc. That’s why bad guys can’t fool a narcotics dog by attempting to mask a drug’s scent with things like coffee and fish. A police dog would detect two separate odors.

Patrol dogs – the biters – must undergo obedience and agility training. These animals are trained to work on and off leash. They’re also trained to respond to both verbal commands and hand signals.

Handlers spend a huge amount of time bonding with their dog. They also spend a lot of time teaching the dog who’s in control. In the beginning that latter is not always an easy task. A large Rottweiler, with an independent mind, can be quite a challenge for a brand new handler. I know. My hands have lots of scars from dog bites I received during the first few weeks of training with a new dog (they call them green dogs at the academy I attended).

Patrol dogs are trained to perform in a variety of settings and conditions. They must react as trained no matter where they are when needed.

Training scenarios are designed to simulate realistic conditions.

Patrol dogs are trained not to bite until they are given the command to do so, or when their handler is in danger.

Patrol dogs must respond without hesitation. They must continue to stop the threat until the suspect surrenders, or until its handler commands it to stop. These dogs are also trained to guard a suspect while the officer officer searches the criminal for weapons. If the suspect makes an aggressive move toward the officer, the dog will react accordingly to protect the handler.

Patrol dogs are trained to ignore loud noises such as yelling, sirens, and gun shots.

Bite suit worn by officers during patrol dog training.

Deputy Martha Woods Shareef, 53

Lafourche Parrish Louisiana Sheriffs Department

Deputy Shareef passed away on August 20, 2008. She died as a result of the injuries she received from a vehicular assault while responding to an alarm at a local convenience store. Minutes after she arrived at the store, dispatchers heard Deputy Shareef scream over the radio. Shortly after the scream the store clerk used the officer’s radio to call for help, saying the officer had been hurt.

The suspect was later found hiding under a nearby house. He was arrested.

Deputy Shareef was a 15 year verteran.