EDMONTON – A service dog is hailed as a good boy after helping catch a man during a burglary at Tim Hortons in northern Edmonton.
On Wednesday, at 2:14, PSD Bady and Cst. Damien Crockett was called in to assist patrol officers with entry and entry at a Tim Hortons at 153 Avenue and 99th Street.
The cafe was closed with an employee inside at the time, and police say the man kicked in the glass door until it broke.
The man stole the employee’s mobile phone, and she ran to a back room with her landline to call the police.
Police say the man blew up the building’s switches, disrupting all of the building’s electricity and ending the employee’s 911 call.
When police reached Tim Hortons, they searched the building and discovered that the man had locked himself in a room.
“The suspect refused any negotiations for him to surrender and go out in peace,” the sergeant said. Mike Garth, Canine Unit Supervisor. “He then took a fire extinguisher that was in the storage room and started unloading it at our members under the door.”
Sgt. Garth said that when officers entered the locked room, the man continued to spray them with the fire extinguisher and that the police service dog (PSD) Bady helped him subdue him.
“The dog can usually fight through any kind of contamination that happens and use his nose to find where we need to use our eyes.”
The man was charged with several counts of burglary and entry, as well as assault on a police officer and assault on a police dog, the sergeant said. Garth.
The Edmonton Police Service’s canine unit praised PSD Bady on Wednesday morning: “You can’t come between the cop and his coffee!”
“If there was no COVID, who knows what officers would have been with Tim Hortons in the first place,” the sergeant joked. Garth.
Sgt. Garth has been with the canine unit for 10 years and works with an explosion detection dog. He and his colleagues usually answer any “ongoing” calls in which a suspect may hide or flee.
“If they run on foot, the dog will follow them well. If they hide a place where they will be in an advantageous position, where they can see us coming, but we can’t see them coming, and the dog’s efficiency uses his nose to find him,” said the sergeant. Garth.
The unit has 16 managers, two sergeants in charge of the unit, as well as a staff sergeant.
Six of the police service dogs are cross-trained in drug detection in order to train all dogs, and the unit also has two explosives detection dogs.
But the question in everyone’s mind? Did PSD Bady receive a timbit as a reward?
“You know what? Probably not,” the sergeant said. Garth. “Dogs are on a strict diet, but I’m not sure about their owner.”