RIP Rocco

http://www.pittsburghurbanmedia.com/Hero-Dog-Pittsburgh-Police-K-9-Rocco-Dies/

I woke up Friday morning both sad and mad.  I sat down to try and read the article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette about the topic that was causing my distress.  I didn't make it past the first line, "Office Lerza sobbed."  I joined him.  And that was that for reading further.  Why were we both crying, along with many in the city?  Because his partner, a K-9 Officer, Rocco, had died the night before after being stabbed on Tuesday by a mentally disturbed young man they were trying to apprehend.

This is a personal one for me.  It spans across a few topics I feel strongly about:  animal welfare, the state of mental health care in Pennsylvania, and protecting those who work to protect us.  The night before, when I read that Rocco had taken a turn for the worse, I was trying to figure out how my dogs could help, most likely to donate blood.  A woman who was trying to help get me information on where to go and how to do that also told me that the assailant could only be charged with a misdemeanor, whether Rocco survived or not.  Turns out he was charged with a felony, but a third degree felony, and the fact that he actually did end up murdering the animal doesn't up the charge.  I was initially enraged at the thought that the charge would be no worse than stealing candy from the local Get-Go.  Now I'm just incensed, but it still isn't right or sufficient.  To put it in perspective, consider that, if convicted, the assailant would face 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison on the third degree felony charge he faces.  If he was arrested, nice and calmly with no knife slashing involved, on straight burglary charges, he could be charged with a first degree felony and face up to 20 years.

Now why should you care about that?  Particularly if you, as I saw one person comment, believe this is JUST a DOG and can't see what all the fuss is about. Well, consider that a trained dog costs about $15,000, based on various sources I looked at.  It's harder to get a bead on what the ongoing maintenance expenses are, but the Pittsburgh Police Department reimburses the handlers for the dogs' care, and they are allowed by budget to have up to 24 dogs.  According to their website, if you subtract Rocco now from the list, they have 17 dogs on the force currently, split into a few different specialties.  If you're a dog owner, you can do some rough math.  Also, if you're a dog owner and have ever had to pay for trauma care, you can definitely do that math.  Personally, I've used the clinic where Rocco was being cared for just once.  The night one of my oldest dogs died.  She was there less than an hour because there was just nothing that could be done for her and the bill was $400.  So, as taxpayers, every Pittsburgher has a stake in what happened to Rocco.

Additionally, if you lose a trained K-9, it's not like you can just go down to the local shelter and pick up another one.  Most of them come from Europe, as did Rocco, and share certain personality traits that make them ideal for police work.  I've reached out to the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation for some more information on how dogs are chosen, trained and their uses, but if you're wondering about the value of having a dog on patrol with an officer, call me and I'll tell you the story of how I once saw an Sheriff's deputy in Texas single handedly apprehend and subdue three suspects who had broken into property I was responsible for by just showing them his dog when they tried to run and explaining that he'd send the dog after them if they didn't stop.  They did.

But, more than that,  I believe that we have a higher duty to the animals we chose to domesticate and then place in our service.  No one asked Rocco if he wanted to be a police officer.  He was drafted into the position and put his life on the line every shift.  He may have done it willingly out of love and respect for his handler, but that does not diminish my argument, it just enhances it.

A natural question is whether the department does enough to protect the dogs, and I think it is a fair question.  I've been reading about what is available for dogs, such as protective vests, and why or why not their handlers use them.  But one thing that you read is that a vest still leaves a dog exposed on parts of his body.  At close range, Rocco would likely still have been exposed to the injury he sustained from everything I can piece together.  So, no, this one is all on Mr. Rush and maybe those of us who failed to recognize his condition and help him before it came to this, not the Pittsburgh PD and Officer Lerzo, in my opinion.

But, I'm not alone in my frustration at what the law can currently allow to protect these noble animals who work hard to protect us, and there is already legislation being proposed, "Rocco's Law", which will raise the level of offense to a second degree felony.  Every indication is that it has strong bi-partisan support, but I would encourage all of us not to forget about this tragedy as days go by and encourage our elected representatives to support the legislation.

Now the next step is how to prevent more people like John Rush from falling so far down a rabbit hole that he has to commit a violent crime before any of us pay attention to him.  That's a harder task.

For now, all I can say is: rest in peace, dear Rocco. Thank you for your service.