New Ill. K-9 Is Already Taking Bite Out of Crime

June 05--MOUNT ZION -- Capone the police dog is new on the beat but is already taking a big bite out of crime.

He's achieved several successful collars in his first few weeks on the job with the Macon County Sheriff's Office and was in action again Sunday afternoon: this time, working with his handler, Deputy T.W. Houk, he tracked down two teenage car theft suspects after hunting them through the wilds of rural Mount Zion.

The drama started when the 16- and 17-year-old male suspects allegedly stole a car from Decatur and were being chased by the vehicle's owner. He followed them to the area of Southbrooke Drive and Harry Land Road, where the suspects abandoned the vehicle and took off running into a corn field about 3 p.m.

Deputies arrived, and then Houk and Capone began tracking after the suspects through an area of heavy woods and brush and along a creek with water that came up to Houk's waist.

"The suspects said later they thought with all that water they were in an area where the dog couldn't track," said Macon County Sheriff Tom Schneider. "They were wrong."

Despite shouted commands that warned the canine officer was coming in after them, the suspects refused to break cover and the 16-year-old was then "forcefully secured" by Capone, according to a statement from the sheriff's office. It's understood he suffered a bite wound and was later treated and released from hospital. The other suspect was quickly found by the dog and taken into custody at 4 p.m.

"This is a really impressive dog," said Schneider. Barely a week earlier, Capone was hunting another car thief and successfully tracked this one to a house in Harristown where the suspect was arrested. "And in earlier cases, he has recovered 200 grams of marijuana, a gram of cocaine, a crack rock and 13 pieces of drug paraphernalia," added the sheriff. "And all this in his first two weeks on the road."

Schneider also praised the work of Houk and the Decatur police canine handlers who worked with the sheriff's office to help train their police dogs. "We've got a great group here," the sheriff said.

He did say, however, that it was somewhat embarrassing to have a police dog named for the Prohibition Mafia gangster Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone. Schneider said the dog was already named when it came to them and had been trained to respond to commands under that name. "We just had to go with it."

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