Dogs Ride with the New Orleans Police Department

Since the days when packs of bloodhounds tracked fugitives and searched for missing persons, the dog has been an important tool for police departments across the country.  Unfortunately with the invention of the motorcycle and it’s adoption by many police forces, many officers found themselves having to choose between driving a car with their K-9 or riding a motorcycle.  In 1960, the New Orleans Police Department decided to do something about this by converting some of their Harley-Davidson Servi-Cars into three-wheeled K-9 Units.  The conversion was fairly simple, they just removed the lids for the Servi-Car bodies, added a plywood floor, mounted a sheet a plexi-glass to provide a windshield for the dogs and they were ready to ride.

The first year, two officers were trained  as part of this new K-9 Unit and due to it’s success, an additional seven were trained in 1961.  Pictured in this article are Officer Howard Pittman with Jig (140) and Officer Albert Andry with Jet (131).