Today we celebrated three recently retired K9s – Gerard, Lucky, and Rico – and wished them well as they take in some much-deserved rest and relaxation with their handlers. They were issued their last shift on duty and are enjoying their golden years.
Each K9 partner was presented with a retirement certificate and Sgt. Chris Moore, who serves as the K9 Unit’s trainer and lead supervisor, shared their career highlights and success stories.
These K9s and their handlers functioned as a team from the start – entering our handler training course together to learn a broad range of instruction and critical support to get certified as a pair. Our four-legged partners are skilled assets who help us apprehend wanted suspects, locate missing persons, identify explosives, and seize narcotics and jail contraband. They are partners in every sense of the word.
Our K9 Unit is an integral part of our day-to-day operations. One of the main goals of this unit it to increase the safety of our patrol deputies. In many cases, deployed K9s are the first in contact with a suspect, giving deputies space and reaction time to have them surrender without incident.
We’re grateful for their faithful years of service and dedication to our teammates and community. We cherish them and take great pride in their contributions.
Meet the Retired K9s
K9 Gerard is a 12-year-old K9 trained to identify explosives and track a scent. He has worked alongside his handler, Deputy Love, on 421 patrol deployments, 270 captures, and 110 explosive sweeps. In 2018, K9 Gerard and Deputy Love were honored by the 100 Club for apprehending a suspect who shot and wounded a Harris County Precinct 4 deputy constable. K9 Gerard has conducted numerous explosive sweeps at city-wide events, such as Super Bowl LI. He has 8 years of public service.
Click here to meet Gerard and Deputy Love.
K9 Lucky is a 10-year-old K9 trained to identify explosives and track a scent. He has worked with handler, Deputy Bair, on 332 patrol deployments, 88 captures, and 151 explosive sweeps. He has conducted numerous explosive sweeps at city-wide events, including Super Bowl LI. In 2015, he responded to an officer-involved shooting, deploying at the scene and tracking the suspect’s shotgun to a wooded area. He has 7 years and 5 months of public service with more than 2,400 training hours.
Click here to meet Lucky and Deputy Bair.
K9 Rico is a 9-year-old K9 trained to identify narcotics and track a scent. He has worked alongside his handler, former Deputy Troy Guidry, on 127 patrol deployments, 48 captures, and 98 narcotic operations. Additionally, the team helped train handlers from the Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies – dedicating about 160 hours per month to the instruction. K9 Rico has more than 6 years of public service with more than 3,100 training hours.
Click here to meet Rico and Waller County Sheriff Guidry.
Public Safety Forums
At the Sheriff’s Office, we pride ourselves on working with you to keep our neighborhoods safe.
On Tuesday, Patrol District IV led a virtual public safety forum for west Harris County residents with a key presentation from our High-Tech Crimes Unit on internet safety and ways we can protect our children online no matter how they access the web. Sgt. Ortiz, who leads our newly formed Traffic Crimes Unit, provided an update on our efforts to combat the rise in street racing and street takeovers and Dr. McNeese, a forensic and clinical psychologist with our Behavioral Health Division, shared how our agency is providing mental health services and support to our teammates.
Public safety forums are an opportunity for you to join your neighbors and patrol district leaders for a meaningful discussion about public safety issues in your neighborhood. They are also an opportunity for you to learn more about our initiatives, to ask questions, and to share any concerns with the very leaders patrolling and protecting your block.
Stay Informed
Each of our five patrol districts has started hosting regular virtual safety forums with support and updates from various agency leaders. If you’re interested in being notified about your district’s next meeting, fill out our interest form. By signing up today, you’re ensuring you’ll be among the first to know when the next safety forum is scheduled.
Follow Us on Social Media
In the meantime, stay connected with us by following your patrol district on Twitter and our agency on Nextdoor. You will receive breaking news, missing persons and wanted suspects alerts, crime prevention resources, and more.
A safe and compassionate community requires constant attention, care, and collaboration. Thank you for your partnership, and for joining us on this journey.