Mesa Police are mourning the loss of one of our police service dogs killed in the line of duty. Leon, a two-year-old Belgian Malinois trained for patrol duties, suffered fatal injuries after a vehicle struck him during the course of a foot pursuit. Read news article.

Leon was purchased from Adelhorst International in January 2006. He was born in Europe, trained by a German handler in the French language, and was certified in the French Ring Sport.

Officer Lafontaine continued using French with Leon, which got a lot of laughs (mostly at Officer Lafontaine for butchering the language).

Leon was very easy to train and caught on to police work very quickly, which shows how well of a handler Officer Lafontaine is.

Leon and Officer Lafontaine received the National Deployment of the Year award for the freeway hostage incident which occurred in August 2006.

If you wish to make a donation in memory of Leon, please send your contribution to:

Mesa Police Department
K9 Unit
130 North Robson
Mesa, AZ 85201

Please make contributions payable to: Mesa Police Department.  Any donations received will be used for a memorial plaque, tree and dedication at the K9 facility for Leon, replacement dog and equipment, upgrade and keep of the K9 training facility, and future advanced training for handler and K9.

Donations can also be made to the Mesa Police Department K9 Unit through any branch of M&I bank -- account #0042894280.

Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.