Citizens on Patrol (COP) members do a laudable job, by sacrificing their time with families and loved ones as well as their their sleep by going on patrols into the early hours of the morning to ensure that the community is safe. But life is full of surprises, as always, and one COP member, Lance Penny has had a heart-warming experience on a very cold winter night and has shared that experience with the readers of the Independent.
I have been a COP doing regular patrols here in Stettler for the last few years. In all that time, I was never involved with any animal calls while out there.
But on the very cold night of February 20 at about 1 a.m., I had stopped and jumped out to complete a security check of one of our Stettler businesses.
I had left my van driver's door open, as I hastily went to check the building premises and ensure the doors were locked. But while returning to the vehicle, I was met with a very large police dog running full speed toward me. I turned to run back to the safety of my van, only to be overtaken by the dog that then passed me, and jumped into the vehicle. Now, I was a little nervous about what to do with this huge dog in the driver's seat.
Carefully, I approached the van, with my large flashlight at the ready, only to find a very cold but grateful German shepherd ready to lick my face off.
After regaining control of the driver's seat and moving the dog to the passenger side, I called in the incident to dispatch to ask for direction.
Using the dog's tags and a sleepy veterinarian, and after about an hour of driving around together, we were able to find out where "Roxanne" had escaped from and return her, to a much relieved owner.
Apparently, with all the snow in her yard, Roxanne had been able to jump the backyard fence and head out on an adventure that became dangerously cold for the friendly pooch.
It was definitely a feel good incident and just added to those many experiences that encourage me to continue to serve my community as a COP.