PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles police dog helped his handler catch a man who tried to flee after his accomplice broke a downtown Port Angeles window last weekend.
Jag, a 3-year-old Belgium Malinois from Germany, tracked down his man while K-9 Officer Cpl. Kevin Miller arrested two other people in the 100 block of West Front Street, Port Angeles, shortly after 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
Jag pointed Miller to the at-large suspect, a 24-year-old Port Angeles man, who was hiding in the corner of a nearby building, Port Angeles Deputy Chief of Police Brian Smith said Thursday.
The man ran into a store with Jag in pursuit. He was arrested inside the store on investigation of obstructing a public servant, K-9, and booked into the Clallam County jail.
Malicious mischief
A 21-year-old Port Angeles man was booked for investigation of third-degree malicious mischief for breaking the window. A third person was arrested for possession of marijuana but was not taken to jail.
The two taken to jail have been released, and were processed through Clallam County District Court for minor charges, Smith said.
“We didn’t charge burglary,” Smith said. “The facts show malicious mischief. If you’re a business owner, it’s very insidious crime.”
Information was not available on the resolution of the charges.
Jag, who was commissioned in June 2008, was used in 33 cases and apprehended 17 people suspected of crimes in his first year on the force, according to Port Angeles police statistics.
The dog was severely cut in a leap over a barbed wire fence last May.
He was nominated for a police Purple Heart after he ruptured an artery on the barbed wire.
He returned to the force a month later to help Port Angeles police and Clallam County Sheriff’s deputies catch a person suspected of a crime in a patch of blackberry bushes.
Jag’s Port Angeles Police Department counterpart –Kilo, a 7-year-old German Shepherd from Germany — has been used in 160 cases and made 43 apprehensions. The veteran police dog has played a role in 66 evidence finds.
Kilo’s handler is Officer Allen Brusseau.
Together, the K-9 units have found evidence in at least 30 cases and searched 76 buildings.
The Port Angeles police dogs are resources used by law enforcement agencies across the North Olympic Peninsula.
“They’re a force multiplier,” Smith said.
“They allow us to do things we wouldn’t do in terms of detecting, locating and apprehending suspects.”
Police dogs do things that statistics can’t measure, Smith added.
They provide a certain deterrence to would-be criminals, he said.
Smith praised Brusseau and Miller for their hard work handing the dogs, which includes constant training.
“I think we have one of best K-9 programs anywhere,” he said.
