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Died – 1/11/16
Handler – Officer Jack Wofford
R.I.P. Capone: Carlinville’s effective police dog is fondly remembered
Over 100,000 views and more than 500 comments resulting from the Carlinville Police Department’s K9 passed away. The announcing of the the death of its police dog and responses from the community shows the standing that Capone the Belgian Malinois had in the community. Capone was nearly 9 and semi-retired due to health problems that included a nerve issue in his hip when he died at the Macoupin County Animal Shelter. “We are sad to announce the passing of our K9 Capone. He passed away quietly in his sleep. R.I.P. Capone 01/11/2016,”. “It just shows there’s a lot of animal lovers, and when you hear of a canine passing, it’s kind of a big deal,” said Police Chief David Haley. Capone was at the animal shelter because his handler, Officer Jack Wofford, was hurt falling out of a tree in a deer hunting accident and has been off duty. The department was trying to keep Capone as active as possible while moving him toward retirement and replacing him, Haley said. “They were helping us take care of him, feed him and make sure he was taken care of. Unfortunately, Sunday (Jan. 10) he was fine. Monday morning, he wouldn’t wake up,” Haley said. Capone, at 85 pounds, had served the department since October 2012. “We got Capone from the city of Pawnee. They had chosen to stop their program,” Haley said. “Our first dog that I had was a dog we got from the city of Girard, which was an older shepherd, and he had a seizure in academy … so we had to retire him. Since Capone was previously a certified canine dog, it was easy to pick up and finish the academy.” Capone’s original name was “Earl.” “My handler didn’t think ‘Earl’ was a name that would strike fear in people,” Haley said. “So we changed it.” Capone was a “full-service” dog who did bite work, drug detection and tracking. He responded to calls from Macoupin County to assist in Benld and Gillespie. “He’s actually had a pursuit, we’ll call it a ‘pursuit,’ a foot chase where he actually tackled and secured the person before my officer got to it,” Haley said. “So he’s got a confirmed bite. … I believe he truly kept our streets safer. Once he had that one foot pursuit and bite, word got around quickly, and nobody really wanted to mess with him.” Haley said Capone was a good dog even though he wasn’t too personable. “I was there the first day that my first handler got him. I saw how hyper, high-strung he was. I had to help feed him when my other handler was on vacation, so I got to know Capone pretty good. I’ve been bit by Capone,” Haley said. “He made everybody kind of nervous. He changed a lot over the time we had him. He went from being really anti-social to where some of the guys could actually pet him and play ball with him. We didn’t worry about getting eaten.” Capone did demonstrations at a county fair and Relay For Life. “We couldn’t take him into schools because his attitude wasn’t that way, but the new dog that we’re getting is a little more sociable, so we hope to have him more interacting in schools.” The new dog will be a male Malinois obtained through a public safety grant. The new dog and its handler, Officer Tyson Probst, will attend a 10-week training beginning the end of February at the Illinois State Police Academy. The dog will reside at Probst’s house. “Capone was one of those dogs that he wasn’t in with the family. He was just that kind of dog, but he always stayed at the handler’s house,” Haley said. “Capone has been with us for two handlers. The original handler we had took a job down in the O’Fallon Police Department, so then we had Officer Wofford step up and wanted to do it, and he went back through canine academy in Belleville.” Capone was cremated. The department is putting together an indoor memorial that includes pictures of him. “We’ll have his remains here unless one of the two handlers wants his remains. Otherwise, they’ll remain with us,” Haley said. Also, the week that Capone died, two police dogs in other states were shot and killed in the line of duty. “I don’t want to take anything away from those dogs that gave their lives to the ultimate sacrifice,” Haley said. “I’m a dog lover, and it’s hard to know that he passed away and that he passed away out there at the shelter with really nobody there. Nobody wants to wake up to their dog being dead without being there with them. “It was kind of hard on me because he was by himself.”
