ROCK SPRINGS—The Rock Springs Police Department formally retired K9 Officer Gunner Tuesday night at the Rock Springs City Council meeting, and introduced two new additions to the force, K9s Max and Fenrir.
Gunner’s Years of Service
Gunner started working in 2009, and has been retired since June. With his training in narcotics detection, tracking humans, evidence recovery, and criminal apprehension, Gunner has performed numerous drug searches and several educational demonstrations.
His talents have been showcased throughout his eight years with the RSPD and he has left a lasting impression on the force and the community.
The city council presented Gunner with a plaque for his eight years of service. He will enjoy his retirement and live out his life with the Register family.
New K9 Officers
In addition to announcing Gunner’s retirement, Max and Fenrir, the two new K9 officers, were formally introduced to the council Tuesday night.
Max is a Belgium Malinois and was donated to the police department by the Beck family. Brian Beck, a Marine Veteran, got Max as a companion after working with the Malinois breed in the military. However, after getting Max, Beck’s job changed, requiring him to travel more.
Beck said this breed of dog requires a lot of attention, and he was sadly no longer able to give Max the attention needed with his new work schedule.
Beck said he thought about selling Max, but did not want him to end up in an abusive household, so he called the police department and asked if they would like to take him. After testing and consulting, the RSPD found Max to be extremely viable as a K9 officer.
Max now works with his handler, Officer Ruslan Kolb, who is also a Marine veteran.
Fenrir, a black German Shepherd, is a rescue dog from Colorado Springs. Fenrir has been training with his handler, Officer Austin Soto.
Max is about 20 months old, and Fenrir is a little over one year old. The K9s will need about one more year of training before they will be ready to start working.
Generosity of the Community
In 2016, three Rock Springs High School students and members of the Fire, Law, and Leadership Academy started a project to raise funds for the RSPD’s K9 program. Brianna Robertson, Samantha Moore, and Madi Chidester ended up raising $5,220 for the RSPD’s K9 program.
Samantha Moore, Brianna Robertson, Madi Chidester, and Officer Ruslan Kolb with K9 Officer Max.
In addition to the money raised by the FLLA students, the Kiwanis Club of Rock Springs also donated $2,000 to the RSPD’s K9 program.
With Max being donated and Fenrir being a rescue, the cost to train them and purchase Fenrir was $13,500. K9s can often cost around $12,000 for just one dog, so the generosity of the Beck family, the FLLA students, and the Kiwanis Club have allowed the RSPD to save a lot of money.
Sgt. Register told the council that you don’t have to pay a lot of money for a K9, but you just need to find dogs with the drive to do the job. The RSPD believes Max and Fenrir posses this drive and will make great additions to the force.
