He Really Took a Bite Out of Crime

After seven years in dogged pursuit of lawbreakers and 33 bites on wanted suspects, Grief the police dog has hung up his badge.

Age, arthritis and a shoulder injury the 11-year-old German shepherd suffered two years ago have taken their toll on Grief, pronounced GRIFE.

“He still had the will and drive to do the job,” said Grief’s handler and former partner, Officer George Flannagan of the Alhambra Police Department. “But his body wouldn’t let him.” During a 1988 car chase, suspects in a robbery fled in a Volvo sedan going more than 75 m.p.h., tore past a stop sign and rammed into the side of Flannagan’s police cruiser.

Flannagan suffered a punctured lung, a bruised and dislodged heart and six broken ribs. Grief had a cut on his forehead and both hips were injured. A piece of glass that jammed into Grief’s left shoulder also severed nerves.

“He just has not been able to recover from it,” Flannagan said. “It really slowed him down.”

Last week, Grief retired from the force with a distinguished record totaling more than 300 arrests. Wearing his official police badge on his collar, Grief was honored at a farewell ceremony at City Hall.

The partnership between Grief and Flannagan dates from 1982, when Grief became the fourth police dog in the department’s canine unit.

“He was like a new member of the family,” said Flannagan, who as Grief’s handler takes the dog home every night. Alhambra uses one-officer patrol cars, so Grief was Flannagan’s first police partner.

Grief soon proved himself indispensable. Their first arrest together occurred after the Pasadena Police Department, which doesn’t have a canine unit, radioed for help in its search for a burglary suspect at a Robinson’s department store. Pasadena police had spent more than two hours searching, but it took Grief just 35 minutes to find the suspect hiding in a second-floor storage room, Flannagan said.

Only about 15 San Gabriel Valley cities have canine units, primarily because it is costly to maintain them, Flannagan said. A trained police dog costs about $5,000, and other expenses include veterinary bills, insurance, food and licenses, he said. In Alhambra, the Rotary Club donated Grief to the Police Department.

Flannagan said Grief has saved his life more than once. “He’s found people that I couldn’t find,” and some of those suspects turned out to be armed, he said.

Grief has chalked up other glories too, including honors he won at police dog competitions in Europe, but he also has had his own run-ins with the law.

Four years ago, when Flannagan left the police car to handcuff a suspect, an excited Grief jumped from the back of the car to the driver’s seat and knocked the gearshift lever from the park position into drive. The cruiser then rolled and bumped another car. A police commander, tongue in cheek, issued Grief a warning citation for driving without a license, Flannagan said.

Nowadays, Grief is taking it easy as a 90-pound lap dog. But it’s clear that he misses the action. When Flannagan gets ready to leave for work, Grief gets excited, runs around and scratches at the car door. When Flannagan leaves without him, Grief whines and mopes.

“He loves to work,” Flannagan said.