Category: Washington

Police Dog Who Helped in 9-11 Recovery Dies

From WUSA 9 in Washington, D.C. [photo credit: Ibid]: Police Dog Who Helped in 9-11 Recovery Dies:

Stryker Stryker [pictured right] worked some of the most high-profile cases in our area.

After the terrorist plane crash into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 the German Shephard–along with his handler, Park Police Officer Alice Hanan, searched the building for survivors and the dead. The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) says Stryker made 108 finds in the disaster’s aftermath.

Stryker helped search for missing persons Michelle Dorr, Susan Stottmeister and Chandra Levy. He was also brought in after the water taxi accident in Baltimore Harbor in 2004.

The dog also helped in 113 drug arrests that resulted in $152,923 worth of drugs being taken off the streets.

In all, Stryker worked close to 900 crime-fighting and rescue missions during his service with the M-NCPPC Park Police, Montgomery County Division. He was with the department from 1997 to 2004.

M-NCPPC tell 9NEWS NOW that on July 30th Stryker had to be euthanized. He was suffering from muscular problems that resulted in him not being able to use his hind legs. Stryker was 11-and-a-half years old.

The Park Police adopted Stryker when he was one years old. He was born in Czechoslovakia.

In a news release, M-NCPPC Park Police describe Stryker as “one of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission’s most beloved K9 workers.”

Handler, Alice Hanan, says “Stryker was an incredible K9 partner and I am honored and thankful for our time together….He had the best life possible for a dog and I am pretty sure he knew that. Thanks to everyone who helped us along the way.”

Stryker and Hanan were named the Park Police K9 team of the year 4 years in a row from 1999 to 2002.

Showing why D.C. shouldn’t have voting rights…

From the AP via FindLaw.com: D.C. to appeal its right to ban unlicensed handguns to the Supreme Court:

Plagued by high homicide rates, officials in the U.S. capital said Monday they will petition the Supreme Court as they seek to defend Washington’s 30-year-old ban on most handguns.

A federal appeals court panel struck down the law in March, rejecting the city’s argument that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which upholds people’s right to bear arms, applied only to militias. The full appeals court refused to reconsider the decision in May. The law has remained in effect during the appeals process.

“We have made the determination that this law can and should be defended,” Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said in a statement Monday.

“The handgun ban in the District of Columbia has saved many lives since then and will continue to do so if it remains enforced,” he added.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier said 75 of Washington’s 97 homicides this year were committed with firearms.

Washington’s gun law dates back to 1976, and bars residents from keeping handguns in their homes and carrying a gun without a license. Registered firearms must be kept unloaded and disassembled. The city’s sweeping gun ban is matched only by Chicago among large U.S. cities.

[…]

D.C. officials say the law is necessary in a city that has been plagued by high homicide rates.

Are these people dense? 77.3% of your homicides are committed with firearms and you think the ban is working? You have had some of the highest murder rates per capita anywhere and you want to continue with a policy that bans firearms from law abiding citizens? Bravo, D.C., bravo.

And some humor from The Onion.