RIVERSIDE - The founder of the Riverside Police Department's K9 unit, whose first dog was sired by none other than the famed Rin Tin Tin, will be honored today for his service.

Loren Mitchell, 82, will be recognized during a 6:30 p.m. ceremony at Riverside City Hall, where the career lawman will receive a plaque from police Chief Sergio Diaz as well as special acknowledgements from members of the department's K9 team.

Mitchell was the first RPD officer to partner with a canine, the result of his convincing then-Chief Jack Bennett in 1958 of the value of using dogs in police work, according to Sgt. Pat McCarthy, current supervisor of the police department's K9 unit.

Mitchell, who had been a police officer for two years, was a fan of the '50s television series "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin," and realized the effectiveness of employing canines for search and apprehension of suspects. McCarthy said the need for a dog became evident after a murder suspect managed to elude capture by hiding out in a field.

Mitchell approached Lee Duncan, a Riverside dog trainer and breeder who owned the legendary Rin Tin Tin, about acquiring a German shepherd to work Advertisement

[ MyGym Children's Fitness Center ] for RPD. Duncan donated one of Tin's offspring, and for the next 18 months, Mitchell and "PAL" worked the streets together, according to McCarthy.

"The use of the dog was very beneficial," the sergeant said. "There was one occasion when an officer was attacked by several people at a dance. The suspects fled to the area where the 91/215 freeway interchange was under construction, and Officer Mitchell and PAL found them. As soon as they saw the dog, they all gave up."

Because of budget constraints and liability concerns, the Riverside City Council withdrew funding for the nascent K9 unit in 1960, according to McCarthy.

He said Mitchell returned PAL to Duncan, but the veteran dog handler could see the canine's attachment to his partner and let the officer keep him. PAL lived out the rest of his life at Mitchell's Mira Loma home.

The lawman left the police force in 1964 and went to work as an investigator for the District Attorney's Office, from which he retired several decades ago. He now sells pianos, according to McCarthy.

In 1978, RPD re-established its K9 unit. There are six teams of one officer and one dog, available 24 hours a day.