By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Centralia Police Department announced today the retirement of K-9 Lobo, after seven years with the city.
Lobo
The German Shepherd is leaving the department as of the end of the month due to an unforeseen medical condition, according to a press release.
Lobo joined the department in June 2010 at age 1 and completed his certification that December. He is partnered with Officer Ruben Ramirez, a 16-year veteran of the department.
He will be honored at tomorrow’s Centralia City Council meeting. Tomorrow is deemed “Police K-9 Lobo Appreciation Day”, according to detective Patty Finch.
During his career, Lobo was deployed 197 times for various kinds of searches and tracking, making successful captures of people 84 times, according to Finch.
The police dog didn’t become certified to detect narcotics until May 2016, but has assisted in the seizure of approximately $100,000 in drug related cash, according to Finch. Lobo’s most notable “sniff” was 24 pounds of methamphetamine, concealed in a gas tank of a vehicle, Finch stated.
The police dog has participated in 24 public demonstrations throughout the community.
Finch states that while Lobo cannot be replaced, the department is seeking to purchase another K9 and appoint another K9 handler. Officer Ramirez is one of two who have applied, according to Finch.
The Centralia Police Department K-9 program is funded by donations from the public.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
“The police dog didn’t become certified to detect narcotics until May 2016”
I’d be curious to know how many times he was used on drug investigations anyways prior to him actually being “certified” in 2016.
The whole drug sniffing K-9 concept is a joke anyways. All those dogs do is give police an excuse to get into whoever’s vehicle/property they want to without a warrant. (They may as well call it a Terry-Dog) It is possible that the dog is really able to smell the narcotics. However, there is no 100% for sure way that it is able to communicate that to it’s handler. There was even a former Texas Trooper that used to train “drug dogs” and he said they are taught to false alert at the handlers command. If you watch videos of these dogs in action everytime the handler is either flat-out pointing at the area he would like the dog to hit on or he makes verbal sounds that cue the dog to “hit” on the car or wherever they are searching.
A study came out of Florida (I believe) a few years back that said the dogs are in actuality wrong more often than they are right regarding the presence of drugs.
In my opinion everytime a dog “alerts” on something and there turns out to be no narcotics both the dog and the handler should made to go through training again because they are both showing incompetence at that point. If a dog’s “alert” is good enough to be upheld in a court of law then they need to be a hell of a lot more accurate & consistant than they presently are.
Generally the dog stays with the officer as a family companion.
He’ll probably stay with officer rameriez till he needs to be put down or dies of natural causes. This article doesn’t really specify if it’s a terminal condition or just that work is hazardous to his health and it’s a good idea for him to retire. Animal medical privacy laws you know!?! Sheesh!
What happens to Lobo?