A Metropolitan Police Department dog that was found dead inside a police vehicle last month appears to have died due to both mechanical and human error, the police chief says.
The 7-year-old Belgian Malinois, named Rocket, died in mid-September after he was left alone inside a police cruiser.
Police confirmed Wednesday that Rocket's death was heat-related. While temperatures were only in the 80s on the day he died, temperatures inside a vehicle can get much hotter.
It’s common for officers to leave police K-9s alone in cars with the air conditioning running, sources previously told News4. Many of the cars are equipped with devices — the most common is known as a "hot pup" — which alert a dog's handler if the temperature inside rises to unsafe levels. In some cases, these devices even can lower a vehicle's windows automatically.
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Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee said Wednesday the cruiser's safety device failed due in part to mechanical and human error.
"The car was serviced earlier in the day. … It appears the system may have been shut off at some point and not, like, automatically reengaged," Contee said.
Law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation previously told News4 the dog was left in his handler's marked SUV with the air conditioning running, but at some point, the air conditioner failed and the dog died inside the car.
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Most recognized guidelines for first responders advise against leaving police dogs unattended in vehicles. However, a D.C. police spokesperson said there is no written policy that addresses how dogs should be kept when not on active duty.
D.C. Fire and Emergency Services, which has four search and rescue dogs, also acknowledged they do not have a written policy on leaving dogs unattended in vehicles.
Mitzi Nash is a part of Irondog K9 International, a non-profit that works with law enforcement agencies across the country.
"Quite commonly, [the dogs] also go home with the officers, so they become virtually a part of their family in many senses," she previously said. "The loss of a K-9 is a huge impact, not only to a department and the community, but also to the handler and his family."
D.C. police have about 20 K-9s in the department.
The officer involved, who was the dog's handler, remains on full active duty pending the investigation. The officer is a senior member of that department and would have been trained on those hot car devices.
