Police with paws

Age and ailments catch up with all of us at some point. Same goes for police dogs. Recently, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department was faced with the task of replacing two canines that have carried out arduous duty – not only for the Sheriff’s Department but also for other North Idaho law enforcement agencies.

“We retired two of our patrol dogs in August,” said Sgt. Tom Knight, the Sheriff’s Department’s K-9 coordinator. “These dogs performed not only for our department but were often asked to assist in traffic stops by other jurisdictions, from the Shoshone area all the way up to the Canadian border. We search and track for other agencies, serving the five northernmost Idaho counties.”

The department uses German shepherds.

“The first dog we retired recently was named Baron,” said Knight. “Baron was handled by former Deputy Keith Hutchinson, now the chief of police for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. In his last duty call, he was injured in an attic and ended up with a ruptured disc. Due to that injury, Baron has been retired and is enjoying retirement with the Hutchinson family. He served the department well for many years.” Hutcheson and Baron began service together on Sept. 12, 1999.

“Our other dog we retired was named Chow,” said Knight. “Chow had other health issues, and it was just time for him to retire after five years of service with the department.”

Deputy Lamont Petersen and Chow went into service on Sept. 16, 2001.

“The department currently has three handlers,” said Knight. “When fully trained, the teams will provide rotational shift service to the area in both patrol and narcotics scenarios.”

“The department acquired another dog, Karo, in 2002,” said Knight. “Karo has been teamed with our senior handler, Deputy Jason Shaw. Shaw and Karo have been a team that whole time, and 5-year-old Karo is our main patrol dog for now.”

In October the department acquired Brutus, who is assigned to Deputy Rich Lyons.

“They have just finished a six-week patrol dog course back in November, and the two of them are on patrol four nights a week presently,” said Knight. “Three-year-old Brutus and his handler will be cross-trained to handles narcotics duties as well.”

The department’s third dog, Ringo, and his handler, Deputy Jeremy Young, are undergoing training in California. “Jeremy and Ringo have been down there since mid-November, and will hope to have them back up here just before Christmas,” Knight said. “The plan is to have them working the streets during the holiday season and beyond.”

Then Ringo and Young will report to McNeil Island Correctional facility in Washington for a “narcotics dog school.”

All that training pays off.

“The K-9 units have saved countless hours and dollars for our department,” said Sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger, “For example the old YJ Meats supermarket on Seltice was a subject of many alarm calls a while ago, and it used to take officers hours to search and clear the property, but in contrast a K-9 unit could accomplish that task is 15 to 20 minutes. The units are used heavily and patrols are the bulk of their work.”

“The safety of officers is also a key advantage,” said Wolfinger. “They do searches for both evidence and suspects and the narcotics dogs are trained to find drugs and money whether it is in open spaces, buildings or vehicles. The K-9 units are a great deterrent also, as most suspects would rather give up that fight with a dog, because the dog will usually win.”