Credit: Submitted
The longtime K-9 partner of a Falls Township police officer passed away recently.
Cpl. Steve Langan’s police dog Tag, 14, served with Langan from April 2008 until August 2019. After that, the dog retired to live with Langan, his wife, their four kids, and their two other dogs, according to a statement from the township.
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Langan and Tag were “virtually inseparable,” officials said.
The dog went with Langan on family trips to Myrtle Beach and even made the trek with them to Disney World.
“I took him everywhere with me,” Langan said. “I literally spent every waking moment with him.”
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Tag didn’t have any health problems, but he was getting older and was slowing down.
“Everybody’s lost a pet, but he was my partner,” Langan said of Tag. “He would’ve done anything for me. It’s a little bit harder to explain. He would’ve given his life for me without any question.”
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The Belgian Malinois served as a patrol and narcotics dog. He was able to conduct building searches and tracking.
Tag helped take illegal drugs off the street and assisted in locating lost kids and adults with dementia.
Officials noted that Tag helped recover seven kilos of cocaine from underneath the passenger-side floor of a vehicle stopped in Bensalem Township. The dog’s sensitive nose came into play and he located the drugs that Pennsylvania State Police troopers were unable to find during their search.
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“He smelled it right away,” Langan said of the cocaine, which had been wrapped several times and smeared with motor oil. “You could be somewhere (searching) for days potentially, and the dog would find it within minutes.”
In 2009, Tag won a national award for nabbing two robbers.
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Langan said that Tag helped keep him safe when out on patrol. He said suspect would be “thinking about fighting and Tag would start barking in the back of the car. That would change their train of thought too.”
And Tag wasn’t just important when out on the streets. Langan said the trained dog saved his young daughter, a toddler at the time, when she was outside. Tag was inside and began running back and forth. The officer’s wife let Tag out and he darted toward the toddler, who was being approached by a groundhog, and whisked the large rodent away from the child.
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“His cool status was elevated,” Langan said.
“Everybody liked Tag,” he added. “If you start petting him on his back, he will roll into you and let you pet his belly. Not every dog’s going to give you his belly like Tag would. When nothing was going on he was like a regular dog.”
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Langan, a 25-year lawman, trained with Tag for two months in Canada before return to Falls Township in 2008.
“I was very close with him. He was part of my family,” he said of Tag. “He was a great partner and friend.”
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