AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: OCTOBER 2017 31 P olice Officer Jaime Scruggs and Turbo make quite a team. The two work with the Metro Nashville Police’s K9 unit. They’ve been at it for two years and people have taken notice because of the great results. Last Thanksgiving, a stolen car was tracked to a dead end street in South Nashville. Scruggs and Turbo arrived on the scene and saw two men running away. Scruggs pressed the accelerator, chasing the suspects onto a field, but his vehicle was bottoming out as the terrain got rough. But Turbo was more than ready. “Turbo is a lot faster, and he got ahead into the woods. I’m running to catch up and hear a gun shot. I thought they shot Turbo,” he said. Soon he found Turbo’s jaws locked around one freaked-out suspect’s legs. A motionless accomplice was nearby, dead of a self- inflicted gunshot wound. “He’s a service animal. You couldn’t come to my house and pet this dog,” Scruggs says. “We don’t want him that way. If an armed robber shoots some- one, when Turbo tracks him down, he doesn’t need to think the criminal might play with him.” “You may have a beau- tiful American German Shepherd, but he wouldn’t work as a police dog,” Scruggs said. “We might test 15 dogs and pick only one. They have to have the highest drive, intelligence and fearlessness.” For their service and bravery, Scruggs and Turbo were recently honored at the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Music City Knockout in Nashville as part of the PBR Celebrate America tour. The PBR Major with 2017 title implications on the line will be Scruggs’ first PBR event. As partner to a beloved animal in life and death situations, he’s eager to see how the riders pair off with the powerful bulls, another partnership grounded in training, respect, and mutu- ally dependent success. He’s heard music is a big part of a PBR show and wondering if he’ll hear any rootsy country tunes boom- ing through the Bridge- stone Arena. Officer Scruggs is the grandson of the bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs, and he fondly remembers his grandfather picking on the banjo, an instrument he single-handedly reinvent- ed. His dad traveled the world in the Earl Scruggs Review and was guitarist for Waylon Jennings. Scruggs and Turbo get it done ICOP® PRO HD DVR with Power Control Monitor In-car digital video recorder solution At zero cost, you can enroll in our 30-day pilot program. Trade in your existing systems for upgraded Safety Vision products. $1 per day per vehicle, you can outfit your entire fleet. EFFECTIVE TRAINING TOOL Replay footage to demonstrate the skills required for operating proper procedure INCREASE CONVICTION RATES Create indisputable and court-admissible evidence DIGITAL EVIDENCE MANAGEMENT Video protection with complete chain of custody, for secure data integrity and authenticity HIGH DEFINITION IMAGES Vehicle license plates, road signs, and subject’s faces all recorded in great detail Coming in October 2017: The launch of Safety Vision’s new fully integrated and fully loaded body worn camera! Copyright © 2017 Safety Vision, LLC All Rights Reserved. FIND OUT MORE TODAY! 800.849.9621 www.safetyvision.com