Officer Puts Leash on Runaway, Solves Case of Missing Police Dog : Canine Corps: The department’s runaway German shepherd is back on duty after being AWOL for about 12 hours.

Bandit, the wayward police dog, has come home.

The sociable black-and-tan German shepherd, one of two four-legged employees of the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department, bounded happily into his handler’s arms during an emotional reunion in the city of Bell roughly 12 hours after his recent disappearance.

Frantic police officials had spent hours searching the Palos Verdes Peninsula and contacting the media in an attempt to find the missing $5,000 dog.

Apparently Bandit had simply found the lure of burritos and potato chips stronger than his devotion to duty and walked off with some picnicking strangers.

The 4-year-old police dog vanished Oct. 28 after an off-duty romp with Officer Dave Black, the roommate of Bandit’s handler, Officer Joe Hall.

Black went into his house to answer the telephone, Hall said, leaving Bandit on his own in the back yard of the house. When Black returned, Bandit was gone.

Police officials distributed descriptions and photographs of the dog to newspapers and television and radio stations in an attempt to locate their canine colleague, a frequent prize-winner in police dog competitions.

Dozens of calls lit up the police station’s switchboard with reports of sightings of German shepherds after Bandit’s face appeared on two local news broadcasts.

Shortly before midnight, the call police were hoping for came in from a woman living in Bell.

Beverly Wiseman read off a number tattooed in Bandit’s ear and then asked whether she was in trouble for kidnaping a police dog.

“We assured her that wasn’t the case,” Hall said. “We told her we just wanted the dog back and that we’re glad he’s all right.”

Wiseman told Hall that her husband, Larry, and a friend, Lonnie Burke, had been picnicking on a cliff near Hall’s house after finishing a roofing job nearby.

Bandit wandered over and began sharing potato chips with the two men, Hall said. When they got up to leave, Bandit followed them and jumped in their truck when they opened the door.

“They thought they had a very good-looking stray,” Hall said.

At the Wisemans’ home, Bandit munched on burritos and quickly endeared himself to the rest of the family.

It seemed that the family had a charming new pet--until the 11 o’clock news came on.

After Wiseman’s call to the station, Hall drove to Bell to get Bandit.

“For a second, he didn’t realize who I was and then it was, ‘Oh, hi Dad,’ and he jumped up and ran to me,” Hall said. “He jumped up and licked me in the face.”

Bandit, who has not worn a collar regularly since he nearly choked to death when his chain collar became entangled on a cabinet a year ago, now wears a new, loose leather identification collar when he is off duty.

Hall does not think that there is any special training Bandit could be given to avoid a repetition of his adventure.

“You don’t want to make him super mean and aggressive. That’s something you don’t want in law enforcement,” Hall said. “I like him to be approachable to kids and adults, with a wagging tail instead of teeth that can take your arm off.”