John “Jack” Appolonia,84, established a police canine unit in New York City in 1983, providing a vital new tool in the Big Apple’s war on crime during a time of increasing fear and lawlessness, died February 21, 2023 after a long illness. In addition to Joann, Jack is survived by sons John, Richard. He joined the Navy after high school and the Philadelphia Police Department in 1960, leaving in 1983 to come to New York.An acknowledged expert in canine training, Jack was a consultant to a number of law enforcement agencies, including the Port Authority Police Department. He trained canine teams from dozens of departments in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and federal agencies. He believed that by providing a cop with an alternative to deadly force, he spared that officer the trauma, the regret, the second-guessing a cop experiences when forced to use his or her weapon. “No cop loses a night’s sleep when the dog bites somebody,” Jack said. Thousands of cops trained by Jack, or trained by the people Jack trained, thank Jack that they did not have to shoot.In 1980, after several New York police officers were shot, a New York journalist recently arrived from Philadelphia went back to his home town to report on the successful canine program there. Police Officer John Appolonia, chief canine trainer in Philadelphia, was quoted extensively. As a result of that story, the New York Transit Police, the subway cops, then a separate department from the NYPD, established a pilot program. Jack worked with Transit Police to select an elite team of 12 officers. They had to be physically fit, experienced and with unblemished records. The pilot canine team underwent 14 weeks of training in Philadelphia, including daily five-mile runs. “No point having 80 pounds of muscle at one end of the leash and a 200 pound lard-ass at the other end,” Jack said. “And they have to keep their cool. If a cop uses excessive force, you can fire the cop. If a cop with a dog uses excessive force, they shut down the canine unit.”When the canine team returned to New York, it set the world on fire. A suspect who normally would run when a police officer said stop, did not try to run when a cop with a dog said stop.Jack trained the dog and handler to love each other. The dogs lived with the handler and family. The dogs were not vicious and the public did not feel threatened, even petting the dogs. “You don’t train the dog to attack. You keep the dog healthy and give it love,” Jack said. “And the dog will kill or die to protect you.” “When you order the dog to chase someone, the dog sees it as a game and does it to please you.”The pilot program was so successful that in 1983 New York officials persuaded Jack to retire after 23 years with the Philadelphia Police and set up a canine program in New York. Working from a facility at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Jack and and the team he had trained in turn trained hundreds of canine teams from the Transit Police, the NYPD, the Port Authority, the National Park Service and suburban departments. Thousands of cops who had an alternative to using their gun, thousands of cops who did not have to worry about someone overpowering them, or who was waiting in the dark to harm them. After three years, Jack’s training cadre was in place and working well and he was able to step down, continuing his consultant work for years. As recently as 2020, he served on a New Jersey State commission on violence. Donations may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project or the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
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