By Wesley Harris
Police dogs emerged as an essential tool in American law enforcement only within the past 50 years. Before that, few law enforcement agencies utilized K-9s. Today, it’s likely more police departments have access to dogs than do not, with K-9s performing a variety of functions in patrol, drug and explosives detection, and tracking.
In 1950, the Ruston Police Department received a new member in the form of a tall, black Belgian Shepherd patrol dog, the agency’s first ever K-9. Known as “Kuro” by Ruston officers, he was born in Japan after World War II and trained for police work by Japanese breeder Kojiro Imai.
Kuro’s official name was Frederick Hogakure, derived from a combination of his German ancestry and Japanese breeders. He stood almost hip-high with a coat of thick black fur. One reporter who encountered him wrote, “He has a set of deep amber eyes that have an intelligent look, although they seem to insinuate the proverbial attitude of a detective—Suspect everyone!”
Kuro won first place in 1947 at the All Nation Police Dog Exhibition sponsored by the Japanese Police Dog Association and took high honors at a dog show in Kentucky after he was brought to America.
Kuro was gifted to Lieutenant Lawrence J. Fox, Jr. while working with Japanese police as a counterintelligence officer during the U.S. occupation of Japan after the war.
Lieutenant Fox shipped Kuro to his father, Major L. J. Fox, Sr., in Ruston until he could return home. After Fox returned to the United States, he was assigned to duty in Germany and had to leave Kuro with his father.
Major Fox, always attuned to ways to help the community, decided Kuro would be happier performing the police work he was trained for in Japan. Ruston Police Chief Perry Kinard, a progressive and innovative leader of the department, readily accepted the new addition to the force.
Officers O. O. Osbon and Harold Cook became Kuro’s handlers. The Shreveport Times reported Kuro, which means “black” in Japanese, would “walk complacently beside his fellow officer as they patrol their beats, both the dark uniform of the cop and Kuro’s black coat of hair blending in with the night like a bottle of ink spilled in a coal pit.”
Ruston Police performed more foot patrols in those days, keeping burglars and peeping toms wary of encountering Kuro and his handler on a dark night.
Kuro was originally trained to obey only the commands of the person holding his leash. He became accustomed to the officers around him but if anyone approached the officer with the leash in a threatening way, it made no difference if it was a blue uniform or a civilian—Kuro was ready to respond with force.
Robert Payton told me a story of his encounter with Kuro as a youth. “I remember Kuro because we got up close and personal. At least he did. I was probably between the age of 8 and 10 and I went with my oldest brother Barney to visit his friend. We got off of our bikes, walked up to the front door, and my brother knocked on the door. No one answered the door, so we turned around.
“As we were walking back to our bikes, Kuro came up behind us and bit me…right in the rear end. It took me a minute to realize what had happened because I thought I was a goner. Did I cry? You bet I did! Did I go back? Never! My brother’s friend was Sonny Taylor and his dad was Knawwood Taylor, who was also a policeman.”
Chief Kinard resigned in 1953. Mayor H. T. Richardson commended him, saying, “we are deeply sorry to lose Chief Kinard. He has made us one of the best police chiefs in the city’s history and we know we face a tough task in finding someone to fill the position he leaves vacant.”
In 1984, when I asked Kinard to share his recollections of his time at Ruston PD, the story of Kuro was one of the first memories he shared. According to Kinard, Kuro was “intelligent, easy to handle, and very helpful.”
When retired police chief O. O. Osbon and I talked in the 1980s, he still held strong feelings for Kuro and what he accomplished. Kuro put in many years of service until he was too old to work effectively and was retired to live with Osbon’s family.
Although Osbon’s daughter Catherine Kent was very young when Kuro was alive, she remembers her dad’s attachment to the K-9.
“Dad adored him,” Kent said. “I couldn’t have been very old at the time, but I remember he was beautiful. He always slept on top of the car,” ever the watchful eye over the family.
Ruston PD would not have another police dog for over 40 years.
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