East Texas

By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

LONGVIEW — He sniffed out suspects, located illegal narcotics and found thousands of dollars during his tenure as a K-9 Officer with the Longview Police Department. Friday his human officers remembered the German shepherd they knew as Ozzo.

Kevin Brownlee, the department’s public information officer, said the 13-year-old Ozzo died Wednesday of health problems. He was the canine partner of Sgt. Larry Webb.

Ozzo was born in on May 7, 1995. He started working patrol at the Longview Police Department in September of 1997 and retired in December of 2004.

Ozzo held certifications for narcotics detection and “police service dog” from the National Narcotic Detector Dog Association.

During his time of service, Ozzo was credited with 34 felony arrests and 18 misdemeanors. The majority of Ozzo’s apprehensions came from his outstanding ability to track suspects, including three felony suspect engagements.

“He was a great tracking dog and not many drug dogs can find narcotics and track. He was a great asset to us,” Brownlee said.

“Ozzo is also credited with numerous police seizures that included 1,034.31 grams of crack cocaine, 31 lbs 11 oz of marijuana, $6,000 in cash and a Chevrolet Tahoe.”

Brownlee said the 1,034.31 grams of crack could better be explained as being one or two rocks of crack on a stop.

“That was a lot of work on his part, because that is a lot of rocks of crack cocaine,” he said.

Ozzo had spent his retirement as a companion to Sgt. Webb and his family.

Brownlee said the Longview Police Department currently has three K-9s in service, one on each of the Department’s three shifts.

Ozzo, the retired Longview Police K-9 officer, is pictured with partner Sgt. Larry Webb.
(Courtesy photo)