Died – 1\/11\/16
\nHandler – Officer Jack Wofford<\/p>\n
R.I.P. Capone: Carlinville’s effective police dog is fondly remembered<\/p>\n
Over 100,000 views and more than 500 comments resulting from the Carlinville Police Department\u2019s K9 passed away. The announcing of the the death of its police dog and responses from the community shows the standing that Capone the Belgian Malinois had in the community. Capone was nearly 9 and semi-retired due to health problems that included a nerve issue in his hip when he died at the Macoupin County Animal Shelter. “We are sad to announce the passing of our K9 Capone. He passed away quietly in his sleep. R.I.P. Capone 01\/11\/2016,”. “It just shows there\u2019s a lot of animal lovers, and when you hear of a canine passing, it\u2019s kind of a big deal,\u201d said Police Chief David Haley. Capone was at the animal shelter because his handler, Officer Jack Wofford, was hurt falling out of a tree in a deer hunting accident and has been off duty. The department was trying to keep Capone as active as possible while moving him toward retirement and replacing him, Haley said. “They were helping us take care of him, feed him and make sure he was taken care of. Unfortunately, Sunday (Jan. 10) he was fine. Monday morning, he wouldn\u2019t wake up,” Haley said. Capone, at 85 pounds, had served the department since October 2012. \u201cWe got Capone from the city of Pawnee. They had chosen to stop their program,\u201d Haley said. \u201cOur first dog that I had was a dog we got from the city of Girard, which was an older shepherd, and he had a seizure in academy … so we had to retire him. Since Capone was previously a certified canine dog, it was easy to pick up and finish the academy.\u201d Capone\u2019s original name was \u201cEarl.\u201d \u201cMy handler didn\u2019t think \u2018Earl\u2019 was a name that would strike fear in people,\u201d Haley said. \u201cSo we changed it.\u201d Capone was a \u201cfull-service\u201d dog who did bite work, drug detection and tracking. He responded to calls from Macoupin County to assist in Benld and Gillespie. \u201cHe\u2019s actually had a pursuit, we\u2019ll call it a \u2018pursuit,\u2019 a foot chase where he actually tackled and secured the person before my officer got to it,\u201d Haley said. \u201cSo he\u2019s got a confirmed bite. \u2026 I believe he truly kept our streets safer. Once he had that one foot pursuit and bite, word got around quickly, and nobody really wanted to mess with him.\u201d Haley said Capone was a good dog even though he wasn\u2019t too personable. \u201cI was there the first day that my first handler got him. I saw how hyper, high-strung he was. I had to help feed him when my other handler was on vacation, so I got to know Capone pretty good. I\u2019ve been bit by Capone,\u201d Haley said. \u201cHe made everybody kind of nervous. He changed a lot over the time we had him. He went from being really anti-social to where some of the guys could actually pet him and play ball with him. We didn\u2019t worry about getting eaten.\u201d Capone did demonstrations at a county fair and Relay For Life. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t take him into schools because his attitude wasn\u2019t that way, but the new dog that we\u2019re getting is a little more sociable, so we hope to have him more interacting in schools.\u201d The new dog will be a male Malinois obtained through a public safety grant. The new dog and its handler, Officer Tyson Probst, will attend a 10-week training beginning the end of February at the Illinois State Police Academy. The dog will reside at Probst\u2019s house. \u201cCapone was one of those dogs that he wasn\u2019t in with the family. He was just that kind of dog, but he always stayed at the handler\u2019s house,\u201d Haley said. \u201cCapone has been with us for two handlers. The original handler we had took a job down in the O\u2019Fallon Police Department, so then we had Officer Wofford step up and wanted to do it, and he went back through canine academy in Belleville.\u201d Capone was cremated. The department is putting together an indoor memorial that includes pictures of him. \u201cWe\u2019ll have his remains here unless one of the two handlers wants his remains. Otherwise, they\u2019ll remain with us,\u201d Haley said. Also, the week that Capone died, two police dogs in other states were shot and killed in the line of duty. \u201cI don\u2019t want to take anything away from those dogs that gave their lives to the ultimate sacrifice,\u201d Haley said. \u201cI\u2019m a dog lover, and it\u2019s hard to know that he passed away and that he passed away out there at the shelter with really nobody there. Nobody wants to wake up to their dog being dead without being there with them. \u201cIt was kind of hard on me because he was by himself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Died – 1\/11\/16 Handler – Officer Jack Wofford R.I.P. Capone: Carlinville’s effective police dog is fondly remembered Over 100,000 views and more than 500 comments resulting from the Carlinville Police Department\u2019s K9 passed away. The announcing of the the death of its police dog and responses from the community shows the standing that Capone the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[32],"class_list":["post-1140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-k9memorial","tag-il"],"yoast_head":"\n