Police officer leaves his dog in a car on a hot day.

[Catherine]

A police officer in Florida left his dog in his car. The dog was found dead later in the day.
It is supposed that the police officer forgot the dog was there.
However it happened, a trusting police dog was left to die in a hot car.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

I am sure the officer feels bad about it now, but the dog was his responsibility, his partner really.
He is supposed to know where his dog is at all times. How do you forget your partner. It had to have been a number of hours. He went that long and didn't think about his dog? I have to wonder how officers are chosen to work with police dogs.

There is a certain sad irony to this. Police officers are called to free dogs when thoughtless people have left them in hot cars. Now a police dog has been left to die in a hot car. It is sad that no one spotted him in time to rescue him from a hot car. Of course if he was in a police car people might have hesitated to intervene,

[LPC]

Obviously, the officer concerned is full of regret and the death was not deliberate. It appears that he was off duty, but was visiting a court house for a long time (a bit odd).

It is amazing that police officers and their dogs receive intensive training, but a simple thing like not leaving a dog in a hot car seems to have been overlooked in the training! Police are supposed to set an example to others. They can arrest people for leaving a dog to die in a hot car, so it is only right that when they do the same, they can expect the same treatment. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[Tobi]

How the officer could forget even for one minute, that his dog was in the car -beats me. No matter what he had to do, he should have thought of his dog first.
I am sure he is very upset about what happened,and I am sorry. But he needed to have had some foresight.

My Latin is pretty bad, LPC so I 'googled'  "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" and found it to be a quotation from the Roman poet, Juvenal, and its meaning: "Who will guard the guards themselves?" I suppose that could also be translated as "Who will keep an eye on those who are supposed to be keeping an eye on us?"

So right.....

[Catherine]

Who watches the watchmen.....that is how I learned the quote. I did have to Google it to be sure I was remembering my Latin properly.

Because the dog was in a police car outside a courthouse no one would have thought to check the cars the way they do at the mall. We assume the police know what they are doing. No one would question a police dog in a car. The poor dog never stood a chance. No one was watching the watchman.

That is why the police officer is more responsible then a regular dog owner. I don't know what they will do to the police officer. Nothing will bring the dog back, but they can't just let this go. They need to make a point so that no one is ever tempted to leave a dog in a car. It wasn't an intentional death, but it was at least criminal negligence.