Lt. Larry Richard, Commander of the Santa Cruz Police Department's K-9 Unit took some time to provide an overview of the Unit. Here are his thoughts:
2011 was a year of changes to the Santa Cruz Police Department’s K-9 Unit. We saw the retirement of “Jax” who was a great K-9 partner to Officer Karina Cecena and an asset to the community. We chronicled his long journey to retirement. Since that time, we have added two new K-9’s, “Layko” and “Lobo” to the team. “Layko” is a Belgian Malinois and “Lobo” is a German Shepherd. Their handlers, Officers Jose Garcia and Saul Rodriguez, have been busy training with their partners in many facets of police K-9 handling. In addition to the new K-9’s and handlers, the Unit has introduced a new K-9 Unit Supervisor, Sergeant Warren Barry. Sergeant Barry’s name is familiar in K-9 circles as he was a former handler with SCPD. Sgt. Barry's police K-9 “Dani” passed away in 2011 and was honored by the City Council and Police Department for his service. As a Unit, we look forward to 2012 and introducing our newest K-9’s to the community.
K-9 Commander, Lt Larry Richard
