K9 officer dies in line of fire - local paper questions funeral costs (how much, shepherd)
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I had a friend of mine that I worked with at Collier County Sheriff's Office in Naples, Florida send this to me. Lee County, where Ft Myers is located, is the county just north of ours and we worked with them on a very regular basis for numerous reasons.
One of their K9 units, Rosco, was killed in the line of duty a week ago. As with all K9s that are lost in the line of duty, they have a full funeral service for them. Deputies, Officers, and Troopers from around the state, as well as surrounding states, all come to attend these funerals, in uniform and in their marked units. Many other K9 units and their handlers will also attend.
These funerals are incredibly emotional. I know there are a few here that think poorly of law enforcement and especially those in the K9 unit. I"ve tried on numerous occasions to explain that these guys love those dogs as family members and partners. I love my best friend - human - who was a deputy while I was working for the agency. That service was the hardest I've ever attended. He was not only a fellow agency member, but a friend and family. The K9s are regarded no differently.
After the news story was put out that there would be a funeral, the writer for the local paper began questioning the department about the cost. He wanted to know not only the cost of the funeral itself but how many officers would attend on duty. To him, it's obviously 'just a dog' but to these officers the loss of Rosco has been a major heartfelt blow and to have to slimeball newpaper writer try to pin down this dog's worth in dollars is sickening.
My friend sent me the entire e-mail and asked me to forward it. While I'll definitely be sending it via e-mail to every other person involved in rescue work, I wanted to share it here too. I've gone back and put the e-mail in proper order, with the initial e-mail first moving forward to the present. Please feel free to share this link with anyone that may be intersted.
Posts from the newspapers writer will be in red. Replies from the PD will be in blue.
RIP Rosco. Thank you for your loyal service my friend. Fly free, brave boy.
***********************************************
From: Stewart, Thomas [mailto:TStewart@news-press.com]
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 3:52 PM
To: Sheehan, John; Eller, Stephanie; King, Larry; Schall, Tony
Subject: News-Press story
Hey everyone,
I'm trying to calculate the costs of the funeral for Cape Coral's K9 Rosco
and I was told the LCSO will be sending its color guard to perform during
the funeral.
If that's the case, would it be possible to find out how much it will cost
the agency to make that happen (unless the time is donated)?
Also, I was told there may be other tributes/officers attending and I was
wondering if I could get an estimate, or some direction on how to calculate
costs, for a price on all that (cost of tributes, salaries of officers
attending if they will be doing so on duty, and any other potential
costs/diversion of resources).
Sorry I can't be more specific, I'm still waiting on an itinerary from FMPD.
I may be able to provide more specific directions for my request when that
"Rosco" was not a CCPD member as you inaccurately stated below; however, he most certainly was a brave, law enforcement official and died a violent death in the line-of-duty while trying to protect the citizens of this community. That said, I have authorized and will gladly be providing any and all resources needed/wanted to ensure an appropriate memorial service in partnership with the FMPD; including an offer to Chief Baker that we cover all their phones and dispatch calls during the service so that more of their people can attend. You may recall we did this during the Andrew Widman services.
Feel free to make F.S. 119 requests for documents specific to your inquiry; however, be advised that I am not going to entertain your general Q&A which I find disgusting. Sir - it apparently makes some difference to you and your organization how we in public safety rally together for such a tragic event but I am not about to put a price tag or value on the high honors "Rosco," his Handler Glenn Thompson, and the men and women of the FMPD deserve.
Submit your requests for documents through my PIO and consider this my only comment on the "costs" associated with the service later this week.
You're correct. I inadvertently wrote Cape Coral in the first reference. And I completely appreciate your questioning of my request. Our duty, however, lies in informing our readers and many of them have asked to know how much the funeral is costing taxpayers. As you may be aware, there are vastly different opinions in the community regarding the benefits conferred on dogs vs. humans. Your disgust, I would imagine, lies with those who would question how their tax money is being spent (unless that comment was specifically directed toward the form of my inquiry). Of course, our readers' demand for information, and my request, should not be interpreted as a statement of any specific nature on what the members of FMPD deserve.
Spare me the tabloid trash talk Thomas about your "duty" which at the end of the day amounts to hiding behind a keyboard. Make no mistake...my disgust lies directly with you and that rag you work for.
And the e-mail that went out to the members of the agency from Mike Scott in reference to his e-mail contact with Thomas Stewart about this event:
From: Scott, Mike
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 7:00 PM
To: All Users
Subject: General Information
Last Tuesday evening, a beautiful and highly trained member of the Fort Myers Police Department named Rosco demonstrated his supreme loyalty to his Handler Glenn Thompson, his fellow officers and the community at large as he had done so many times before. Rosco was a gorgeous German Shepherd and was brutally gunned down while trying to stop a violent criminal. A memorial service for Rosco is scheduled for this coming Thursday at Macgregor Baptist Church.
Earlier today, I received a request from our “hometown newspaper” and I have included responses that followed below. I realize we are all very busy and e-mails are abundant; however, I felt compelled to share this with you and encourage you to read it. I find it callous to put the “cost” of the service ahead of the service itself and then find the Reporter cowering behind the lame excuse that “many his readers” have asked how much the funeral will cost. Think about it. Do you really think it to be more than a select few (if any) that are concerned with the “price” of the service as compares with what I know is a vast majority concerned with the “price” that Rosco paid last Tuesday night?
Make no mistake about it the Lee County Sheriff’s Office will do for our counterparts in public safety what they would do for us without regard for the News-Press and their apparent inclination toward such an inflammatory spin.
If you believe as I do that Rosco deserves far more than a dollar value assigned to his memorial service, I ask that you forward this e-mail to as many as you can as I am doing in order to help preserve his dignity and rally against this ludicrous News-Press agenda.
I have different thoughts and views on officers in the K-9 unit and those just in a regular unit. I do believe they love those dogs like family, other officers that do not have dogs, and are not trained to handle dogs however, that go out of their way to harm an animal that is doing no harm to others....that is who I have a problem with when it comes to police.
I would expect no less from a police department to honor a K-9 dog just as it would honor a fallen officer, because in retrospect, that is what this dog is. He served the community just as a human does and deserves exactly what a human officer does when they die in the line of duty.
It really sucks that the person from the paper is questioning their motives when there would be no question if it was a human.
Spare me the tabloid trash talk Thomas about your "duty" which at the end of the day amounts to hiding behind a keyboard. Make no mistake...my disgust lies directly with you and that rag you work for.
I understnad Mike is offended with the reporter but his last response should have been the first email he sent to him. Take the high road...for Rosco!
the newspaper must be tired of reporting on the crappy economy and looking for some sort of angle ...... wonder why the reporter couldn't pick apart the criminal who killed the k-9 officer..... get the community whipped into a frenzy over THAT ......
the newspaper must be tired of reporting on the crappy economy and looking for some sort of angle ...... wonder why the reporter couldn't pick apart the criminal who killed the k-9 officer..... get the community whipped into a frenzy over THAT ......
Most Florida newspapers are quite liberal leaning and quite hard on LEO. I suspect the disdain shown by the reporter under the "guise" of his duty to readers was not for the dog but for law enforcement in general.
A close friend's sister was a K-9 officer in Polk Co. FL. Since her dog has had to be retired and she has returned to normal duties rather tna part of the K-9 unit they have lost one or two K-9 officers in the line of duty as well as dogs. Often these encounters are with illegal alien drug dealers who are armed and very dangerous. It is no walk in the park to be a county sherrif's deputy in FL.
I commend the officer for his response to the reporter and only wish it was not illegal for them to send a steaming pile from the rest of the police dogs wrapped up in his rag of a paper and delivered to his desk.
the newspaper must be tired of reporting on the crappy economy and looking for some sort of angle ...... wonder why the reporter couldn't pick apart the criminal who killed the k-9 officer..... get the community whipped into a frenzy over THAT ......
The news papers there - Lee and Collier County - have a very long standing hatred of the sheriff's offices and police departments. They twist everything that's said and use everything out of context. I thought it was just there until I had the 'pleasure' of experiencing it myself in middle TN. It's left the worst taste in my mouth for anyone in the media. I think less of them than I do sleazy used car salesmen.
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