Rookie Officer Reunites Lost Dog with Owner After Huge Facebook Response

Most police officers don the badge not as a way to get recognition or to become a hero, but as a way to serve and protect a community and its residents to the utmost degree.

That said, it's not every day that a police officer gets to begin his or her career as a hero in the eyes of one happy family and nearly 400 social media users who helped give a sad story a positive ending.

Mark Parr, the newest full-time officer in the Rye Police Department, got a chance to start his career "in a great way" last week, according to Chief Kevin Walsh, when Parr helped reunite a lost dog with its family in Rye. Walsh said Parr found the dog on Jan. 25 near the intersection of Washington and Grove roads, and after some hard work by Parr and the department's secretary they were able to locate the dog's owner.

Word quickly spread about the lost dog on the Rye police Facebook page, and by the time the owner picked up the dog — which was wearing a thin vinyl collar with no tags when Parr found it — around 7 p.m. on Jan. 25, 392 people had shared the story. Walsh said that's the highest response his department has seen thus far since joining Facebook, which he said is "great" for the community and for everyone involved in rescuing the lost animal.

"It's a good story, I thought and the department thought, to put out there because sometimes that's a part of the job that goes by unnoticed," said Walsh. "We go the extra mile to get families reunited, and we're not the only department that does it. I think that's what people really look for in police stories. Unfortunately, we always meet people at their worst. This is a good thing because we took a lost animal — which is not a good thing — and made it better by locating the owner."

While Facebook didn't directly contribute to the dog's safe return, which is something the social networking site did for a lost dog in Hampton in December, Walsh said it's an indication that there are numerous merits to police officers using new technology to connect to local residents.

"I don’t have a Facebook [profile], and when officers came to me about having a department one, I was kind of reluctant in it," said Walsh. "I've been monitoring it to see how to use it as a tool, and I see it as [another kind of] phone line... It's been a really great tool."

The department has been using the site to alert residents about road closures, weather events, emergencies and other activity that would impact their lives. Walsh said stories about children and animals particularly do well on Facebook, and he said the site has helped increase the department's effectiveness in the community.

Numerous residents have taken notice, and many have posted on the department's Facebook page to thank police for the news and updates about the lost dog.

"Great use of social media by the Rye Police--thank you!" wrote Sheila Sullivan.

Walsh did say, though, that he recommends residents make sure their pets are wearing collars, are licensed and either have identification tags or a microchip because "it makes it so much easier to find the owners."

"We're all human and things happen," he said. "The batteries wear out on the electric fence, or the door is left open... and they scoot out.

"It's difficult when there's no collar or tag."