Roswell K-9s retire from police service

ajc.com

Two Roswell Police K-9s recently retired from service. Robbie and Drago, who are both Belgian Malinois, were trained for narcotics investigations, as well as patrolling for police suspects. City Council approved the sale of the K-9s to their respective police handlers on April 13.

Robbie and Drago were trained for the detection of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and ecstasy, according to a statement addressed to presented to City Council.

Robbie worked with two police handlers since his service started in 2015. When he turns six-years-old in September, Robbie will be in retirement age range, said Lt. Joel Ruff in the statement. Ruff recommended the sale of Robbie to his current handler Officer Peter MacDonald for $1.

Seven-year-old Drago has worked with one handler, Officer Greg Cooper, since he entered service in 2016. One more year of K-9 service was originally planned, but the department has a new police dog certification that would have required months of training for Drago costing $4,000, the statement said. That added to the cost of a new K-9 next year, led to the department’s decision to retire Drago.

Council members approved the sale to Drago to Cooper for $98.95

The sales prices were decided after consulting with K-9 vendors and the remaining useful service life each for Robbie and Drago, said Lt. Noah Caplan, Roswell Police Public information officer.