Police know the story all too well – bring someone to lockup only to find them out and re-offending the next day.

In a case this week in Bangor, the perp was a pooch. And his glare as he was hauled back to the hoosegow – captured by Officer Eddie Mercier in a selfie – seemed to show him as unapologetic and a good bet to re-offend.

According to the Bangor Police Department Facebook page, Mercier had picked up the dog and delivered him to the Humane Society on Saturday. He was called to pick him up again on Sunday after the dog was again found wandering. Apparently, someone in the dog’s family had “sprung him,” according to the post.

“We do not normally share photos of those that are being taken into custody,” the department’s post said. “In this case, we made an exception. The look on his face is that of defiance. A true outlaw. Bandit. Scofflaw. There is no changing this jail dog. He is a wilding.”

That may be a bit harsh.

The dog had wandered away from his family and was picked up by police Friday. He was quickly reunited with his owner because he had an identification tag on his collar, said Suzan Bell, executive director of the Bangor Humane Society. Mercier found him again the next day and brought him back to the animal shelter. Which then reunited him with his family again, Bell said.

“We haven’t seen him since. Maybe he learned his lesson,” she said.

The tale, shared Monday on the department’s Facebook site, got picked up by Time magazine’s website, and by Wednesday afternoon, 8,800 people indicated they liked the department’s post.

Bell offered a shout-out to the Bangor PD for its good work with the city’s pets, born of compassion as much as enforcement.

“The Bangor Police Department is fabulous about pets,” she said. “They’ll pick up dogs to get them off the road. They don’t want them to get hurt.”

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