Christina Hall and Robert Allen

Detroit Free Press

ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. — The K9 partners of a Wayne State University police officer shot last week while working in a neighborhood west of campus are taking his death especially hard.

As the casket of police Sgt. Collin Rose, 29, was brought out of St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church on Thursday surrounded by hundreds, if not a thousand, officers from as away as San Francisco, Rose's university police colleague, Officer Patrick Hammill, stood with his K9 partner, Ores, in front of rows of police dogs with their handlers.

In the crisp cold, Hammill saluted his fallen comrade and fraternity brother.

And he wept — something that Rose's two K9 partners, Clyde and Wolverine, could not do as they saw their master shot in the head Nov. 22 while on duty just west of Wayne State's Midtown campus. Rose died the next day of his injuries.

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On Wednesday, when a steady stream of officers and their police dogs had filed into Ford Field downtown to pay tribute to Rose in a public viewing before the funeral, only Wolverine was there.

Clyde "was not really in a position to attend without breaking (down)," said Chris Powell, a Wayne State University police investigator, police union president and Rose's friend. Clyde, a 5-year-old Rottweiler trained in narcotics detection and tracking, had been partnered with Rose since 2013, according to the university police website.

The Rev. Msgr. G. Michael Bugarin told a packed church that Wolverine didn't want to approach Rose's casket during Wednesday's viewing. The younger German shorthaired pointer who was Rose's partner starting in the summer was outside the church Thursday when the police sergeant's casket was brought out to the hearse, watching from behind.

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Rose is one of 133 officers who have died in the line of duty this year, one of seven in Michigan, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. He is one of three officers who have died in the line of duty patrolling the city of Detroit in the past three months.

Powell said the man and dog each found a life partner and that paperwork is in the works to retire Clyde to Rose's fiance, with whom Clyde is staying.

University police have not decided who will become the next handler for Wolverine, who was trained to detect explosives. He now is staying with Wayne State Officer Andrew Grimm, the force's senior canine handler.

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Lines of officers from metro Detroit and throughout Michigan — from Lansing to Saginaw — filed into St. Joan of Arc church. Officers from Ohio State University and Virginia Tech University, both scenes of campus violence, were in attendance.

San Francisco Police Lt. Ronald Banta, a nearly 30-year veteran officer, said that if one officer falls, the entire nation loses an officer.

Rose's family had a final farewell Thanksgiving night for Rose's canine partners, Powell said. Clyde "had a really hard time. You could really see Clyde grieve. It was awful."

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Rose was wearing a fraternity T-shirt and a leash was in his hand at the end of his life. The items picked up the scent of his body and were presented to his dogs, a practice done with military dogs "to accept the handler never comes home."

Both dogs were in their regular spots in Rose's patrol vehicle when Rose was killed while trying to apprehend a man. Powell said the canines were in the vehicle for six hours as other officers processed the crime scene.

Clyde possibly was in a position to see the slaying. The dog was so angry that he tore up three items, Powell said.

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Wayne State Officer Patrick Hammill and Rose's future brother-in-law got the dogs out of the patrol vehicle, Powell said. Canine handlers from several metro Detroit police departments, including Hamtramck, Novi and Detroit Public Schools, helped get the dogs home.

Rose, who frequently attended funerals for metro Detroit police with his dogs to pay his respect and sweep the locations for explosives, would have found comfort in the canine receiving lines, Powell said. Rose was to be laid to rest in Resurrection Cemetery in Clinton Township, Mich., after his funeral.

"That was something he was looking forward to if anything happened — as many dogs as possible," Powell said.

Follow Christina Hall and Robert Allen on Twitter: @challreporter and @rallenMI