Midwest City police lay canine officer to rest

MIDWEST CITY — Bonzo, a Midwest City police dog, was known around the squad room as "the old man” with a lot of heart for his job.

Bonzo was buried Monday afternoon in Precious Pets Cemetery in Spencer, alongside several of his canine comrades in law enforcement.

Midwest City police Cpl. Randy Neal demonstrates how Bonzo uses his sense of smell to search a vehicle in this 2004 photo. Bonzo died Friday. OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE PHOTO by Paul Hellstern

The funeral service was well attended by Midwest City police members, along with canine officers and their handlers from Guthrie, Del City, Ponca City and Logan and Oklahoma counties.

Bonzo died Friday surrounded by fellow officers, said Jerry Kennedy, supervisor of the police department's K-9 unit. The 12-year-old Belgium Malinois had hip and spinal problems, and at the advice of a veterinarian, a decision was made to end his suffering, Kennedy said.

"He was a good officer, but he got where he couldn't work anymore,” Kennedy said. "That for him was probably worse than the pain.”

Bonzo was born and trained in Holland and brought to the United States by a trainer in Muskogee, Kennedy said. His expertise was drug detection, but he had extensive tracking and patrol experience too, he said.

Bonzo recently assisted Choctaw police in tracking a home invasion suspect through a mobile home park.

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