LAPD honors its K9s killed in the line of duty

The Los Angeles Police Department unveiled a new memorial monument at its downtown L.A. headquarters Thursday.

A bronzed dog sits atop a marbled podium where the names of four police dogs are engraved to forever remember their service. Semper, Audax, ET, and Fidus all died while in the line of duty.

The department's Metropolitan Division K9 Platoon hosted the ceremony and Chief Michel Moore spoke about the bonds and trust between handlers and their dog partners.

"The relationship between these canines and their handlers is where they rely on each other that they are going to go home. Unfortunately, while that works many times, there are instances where that has not occurred," said Moore.

The LAPD has used canines since 1980 starting with two dogs and today, its K9 platoon has grown to 18 patrol dogs and five firearm protection dogs.

With a sense of smell 150 times better than a human's police say K9s are the best for sniffing things out

The Metropolitan Division's K9 Platoon primarily searches for, felony suspects, armed misdemeanor suspects, lost and missing persons. Dogs are also used to search for drugs and the bomb squad has explosive-sniffing canines.