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In Loving Memory of
K-9 IVAN
January 17, 1997- End of
watch March 1, 2001
Handler:
Officer Hanspeter Merten
K-9
Division
Sacramento Police Department
5770 Freeport Blvd.
Ste 100, Sacramento, CA 95822
Ph: 916 264.5471
The
Sacramento police dog, K-9 Ivan, was injured Tuesday when he fell from a
second story building. He later died from the injuries, the police
spokesman said.
K-9 Ivan and his
partner, Officer Hanspeter Merten, were credited with the arrest of more
than 50 felons, the police spokesman said. K-9 Ivan, a 4-year-old German
shepherd, once found in a house three hiding people who were wanted on
charges ranging from homicide to kidnapping. The decorated dog was a
two-year police veteran. Memorial service was held March 7, 2001.
California Peace
Officers Web Site
K-9 Ivan was a four
year old German Shepherd who had been with the Department's K-9 unit for
two years. He and his partner, Officer Hanspeter Merten, were credited
with the arrest of over 50 dangerous felons. One of the more notable
apprehensions was of three wanted felons at one location. The three
felons were located hiding at different locations, attic and bedrooms,
and were wanted for charges that included homicide, kidnapping, and
parole violation. K-9 Ivan earned several awards at K-9 trial
competitions during his two years with the department. K-9 Ivan was an
asset to the community he served and will be sorely missed by the
Sacramento Police Department.
E-mail
from Hanspeter.......
I just want to say
thank you very much for all the cards and bookmarks that you sent. I
have passed them out to family, friends and co-workers and everyone
loves them. I really appreciate all your hard work and time that you
spent on remembering Ivan. I have had a chance to write a good bio on
Ivan yet, but I was told about a nice piece that is available on line at
camemorial.org. It is the
California Peace
Officers Web Site. If you look down on the left side column, you
will see a K-9 sub-section. Click on that and Ivan's story will be there
for you to read. Ivan was bought by the Sacramento police department in
November of 1998. He was born on January 17, 1997 in Czechoslovakia and
brought to North Carolina in November of 1998. From the day Ivan got off
the plane at the Sacramento airport he was an instant hit around the
police department. Ivan who let anyone play with him at work or at home.
he loved it when people would throw his "Kong" toy for him to chase.
Ivan quickly caught on to police work. He became fully certified in just
under 8 weeks. During his two years on the department he is credited
with over 50 felony arrests and who knows how many people he stopped
from running from the police or those who decided to surrender instead
of meeting Ivan up close. Ivan was known throughout the city for his
wolf like face and loud bark from the patrol vehicle. He always knew
when he was at work and when it was time for play at home. It was like
he had an on/off switch. Ivan became an important part of our family.
He went to the snow and came camping with my family. One day, Ivan and I
decided that we were going to climb 10,000 ft. Mt. Tallac in the Lake
Tahoe Basin. Ivan and I made it in just under 4 hours and we had a great
view of the Sierra Nevada's from on top of the mountain. Ivan would go
for daily walks or jogging down by the American River in Sacramento. He
loved being outdoors and exploring new things. Ivan was loved by
everyone at the police department, in the community and especially his
family, and he will be truly missed. I know Ivan will be waiting for me
at the gates above us with a "Kong" in his mouth, waiting for me to
throw it one more time. Once again thank you for all that you have
done for my family. It is people like you who make this world a much
better place. |
In Loving
Memory of
K-9 IZZY
1990 - April 11, 2001
Handler: Det. Ed Stewart
Stowe
VT Police Department
Lamoille County Sheriff's
Department
Hyde Park, VT
Stowe's
police dog dead at 11 By Pete Hartt
The identification
card was signed with a tiny paw print because the card holder couldn't
write. Izzy the police dog, who passed away last week after 11 years
with Stowe Police Detective Ed Stewart, could do almost anything else.
"If Izzy could drive, she wouldn't need me at all," Stewart said this
week. "I don't think we even scratched the surface of her capabilities."
Izzy was with Stewart from the time she was eight weeks old and had
reached the equivalent of a doctorate in saving lives, finding people,
sniffing out drugs and tracking criminals. Last week Izzy passed away
after a short bout with a cancer. She was, perhaps, the best friend Ed
Stewart has ever had, and a great friend to the community. "Our last
trip together was to New Hampshire to have her cremated," Stewart said.
"And even then, she was there for a rescue. We drove by an accident and
stopped, and were the first EMT on the scene. I had to reach over Izzy
to get my rescue kit. It was like she was there even after she was
gone."
++++++++
Izzy came into Stewart's life after he, through the Stowe Hazardous
Terrain team, had come into contact with the New England Canine rescue
group on some search and rescue operations. "I was so impressed with
what they did, and their dogs did, that I wanted to join," he said. "Of
course, first you have to have a dog." Ben was Stewart's first dog, and
partially trained when the Fidelco Guide Dog School called to offer him
Izzy. "We went down to look at him, knowing I think that if we looked,
he would be coming home," he said. What Ed and wife Judy found was a
slightly undersized, but frenetic black German Shepherd named Izzy. A
year later Ben was given to a game warden, and Izzy, already certified
to search by air scent, was well on her way to a career that would take
her and Stewart all over the country, including a trip to the 1996
Olympic Games in Atlanta. "She's taken me a lot of places," Stewart
said. "A lot of people who knew Izzy have no idea who I am. We were in
an airport in Nashville and Dolly Parton came over and signed her rescue
vest, she probably wouldn't have done that to me." Since Izzy passed
away Stewart has received dozens and dozens of e-mails. "If they had
heard that something had happened to Ed Stewart," he said, waiving a
thick sheaf of copies of the e-mails, "they probably wouldn't have known
who I was, but Izzy..." A few years ago Stewart started grooming a
smallish black lab named Cinder as Izzy's replacement. "Izzy started
training her about a year ago," Stewart says of the active black lab
from Covered Bridge Kennels in Stowe. "When you are looking for a
working dog you have to try to pick out the one that is the biggest pain
in the neck, the most active, the most curious. The one that always has
to be doing something." Izzy eventually was certified for air search,
tracking, drug detection, searching for bodies, searching for living
persons under rubble and in disaster situations, and she pursued those
activities all over the country. Stewart and Izzy found numerous lost
people, saved a number of lives and found incalculable amount of drugs.
The team, highlighted by Izzy's calm presence, visited a number of
schools and helped bridge the sometimes broad gap between the police and
the community. With dogs trained to operate in dangerous situations
there is always the specter of a sudden and violent death, but Izzy
survived all those situations. "The last few weeks she had lost a little
bit of her spark," Stewart said. "We had taken her to the vet several
times, but they couldn't find anything. Wednesday we were home with her
and she passed away. With a dog like this you are always sending her
into dangerous situations, so you're always a little prepared." After 11
years of being together almost constantly, Izzy's absence is not easily
replaced by Cinder's exuberance. "We are a team, and it's like any
loss," Stewart said. "We flew maybe 70 or 80 thousand commercial miles
together and many more in armed forces aircraft. We did 20 to 25
searches a year. But it was different because we were together almost 24
hours a day, there are few relationships like that."
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Memorials
to Fallen K-9s