DALLAS MORNING NEWS
After 17 years of killing criminal vermin on her beat, "Officer" Princess, the Dallas Police Department's property room cat, has retired.
Property room manager Michael Dromgoole wrote in a June memo that officials decided to retire Princess because her health had deteriorated.
Now-retired Capt. Deborah Melancon adopted Princess in 1992 to "address rodent problems in the warehouse," Dromgoole wrote.
Former co-workers said that Princess worked diligently around-the-clock to rid the property room of vermin and that she had a spunky personality.
"Many, many of us believe Princess is very special and an important part of our department. More than a rat and snake catcher," Lt. Kimberly Stratman, a former property room commander, wrote in an e-mail.
"My first night at that assignment she jumped up on my desk, looked me right in the eyes, and knocked all my stuff to the floor!" she wrote.
Stratman also said that many "tough street cops would stop by and visit her."
Princess, badge number C-2, was formally assigned to the property room in 1993 at age 6 months, replacing the then-retiring property room feline.
Princess is now living with Joanne Andreotta, a property room crime-evidence technician who has been her handler for the last 10 years.
Andreotta said that Princess was having a tough time acclimating to her new home. Long used to being the only cat in her 70,000-square-foot domain, Princess now shares a home with other cats.
"She's just cranky and doesn't understand," Andreotta said Thursday. "She appears to be adapting, although slowly."
Princess was injured in the line of duty in 1995 when she broke her leg while on her "routine nightly prowl," according to a 2001 memo written by now-retired Sgt. Judy Katz.
"Officer Princess remained on-duty for three days until her injury was discovered by co-workers," she wrote.
Katz's nomination led to Princess becoming the only feline officer to win the Top Cop Award from the department's "Police News" newsletter. She won the award after chasing down and struggling with a suspect known as "Dirty Rat."
"As Officer Princess approached the suspect, she practiced all the stealth, cover and concealment that she had been taught in the cat academy," Katz wrote.
"Dirty Rat" died as a result of its injuries.
