‘I chase him, I bite him’ (… the crime report written by a DOG in England)
Police are under investigation for jokingly filling in a witness statement in the name of a police force dog.
Officers became exasperated when prosecutors asked for an account of a crime from a ‘PC Peach’, not realizing Peach was the name of a police dog.
So they completed the form as if it had been written by the alsatian, and signed it with a paw print.
The dog’s statement read: ‘I chase him. I bite him. Bad man. He tasty. Good boy. Good boy Peach.’
The form was pinned up at a West Midlands, England, Police station last week for the amusement of colleagues, who are often at odds with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over the handling of cases.
Another officer took a photo of the statement and it found its way to a ‘cop humor’ page on Facebook on Friday.
The image was later deleted but the dog section of a different force, West Yorkshire, enjoyed it so much they posted the image on Twitter in a tweet that was shared more than 150 times.
The CPS, however, failed to see the funny side. Officials are believed to have complained to police that their mistake has been turned into a very public joke.
This is being considered by West Midlands Police’s Professional Standards Department and the officer who shared the picture, PC Mark Tissington, referred himself to the internal discipline unit. Sources say he is unlikely to be reprimanded.
DCI Julian Harper, from West Midlands Police, said: ‘The Professional Standards Department is looking into this, early enquiries suggest it is a light-hearted exchange as a result of a misunderstanding around a police dog and a police officer. The matter will be investigated.’
Western New York squirrel hunt
A weekend squirrel hunting contest in Holley, NY to raise funds for a volunteer fire company drew about 30 animal rights protesters and a police presence following heated criticism of the once obscure event.
Organizers of the “Hazzard County Squirrel Slam” say they sold 900 tickets at $10 each for hunters as young as 12 to vie for cash prizes for bagging the largest squirrel and the heaviest group of up to five. They said that’s the most ever sold since the annual event began seven years ago. The fundraiser in the Orleans County village of Holley included raffles for five rifles and shotguns.
Local media in the Rochester area reported that some threats included in the thousands of emails critics sent to village and state officials urging them to call off the hunt prompted police to bring in extra officers from surrounding communities to monitor what turned out to be a peaceful, and sometimes colorful, protest on Saturday.
Holley Fire Department officials couldn’t be reached Monday for information about how many squirrels were killed.
Austen Reid, 19, who watched the event with a fellow Rochester Institute of Technology student, told the Batavia Daily News he “just wanted to see this. We’re hunters, but we couldn’t get tickets.”
He said he hadn’t heard about the hunt before the national attention generated by the critics.
“It’s their right to protest and it’s our right to hunt,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with that. They get around on subways and we drive pickup trucks. It’s all the same.”
Crocodile tears: Lolong the world’s largest saltwater croc dies in Philippines
Tearful villagers are in mourning after the world’s largest saltwater crocodile, which put their town on the map after its capture in 2011, died in the Philippines.
Edwin Cox Elorde, mayor of Bunawan town in southern Agusan del Sur province, said a veterinarian rushed to check the one-ton crocodile after it flipped over with a bloated stomach Sunday in its cage in an eco-tourism park. The reptile was declared dead a few hours later.
Guinness World Records proclaimed the giant, blamed for deadly attacks before it was captured in 2011, the largest saltwater crocodile in captivity last year, saying it measured 20.24 feet.
Authorities will try to determine what caused the death of the reptile, which had become a star attraction of the marshy town of 37,000 people about 515 miles southeast of Manila, Mr. Elorde said.
Experts estimate that the crocodile was more than 50 years old, according to Mr. Elorde.
Veterinarian Alex Collantes said he and park personnel tried to revive the crocodile by immersing it in lukewarm water amid the unusually cold weather this month that may have affected the reptile’s condition. But the crocodile died, sending its caretaker and some villagers that gathered at the park to tears, he said.
“I’m really depressed,” Mr. Elorde said by telephone from Bunawan. “I’ve come to love that crocodile. It had brought fame to our town and the Philippines.”
The crocodile’s capture in September 2011 sparked celebrations in Bunawan, but it also fostered concerns that more giant crocodiles might lurk in a marshland and creek where villagers fish. The crocodile was captured with steel cable traps during a three-week hunt after a child was killed in 2009 and a fisherman disappeared. Water buffalos have also been attacked by crocodiles in the area.
About 100 people led by Mr. Elorde pulled the crocodile from a creek using a rope and then hoisted it by crane onto a truck. It was named “Lolong” after a government environmental officer who died from a heart attack after traveling to Bunawan to help capture the beast, Mr. Elorde said.
Bunawan town officials built an eco-tourism park to house the crocodile, which had started to draw local and foreign tourists and bring revenue to the laid-back community.
Philippine officials were planning to start constructing a 1.18-mile road to the park to accommodate the growing number of tourists, but it is unclear if the plan will now push through, Mr. Elorde said.
He said he planned to have the crocodile preserved so Bunawan villagers can still marvel at it.
“I’d like them to see the crocodile that broke a world record and put our town on the map,” Mr. Elorde said.
From London’s Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and the Associated Press.
