Monroe Police honor K-9's service: Jet now living the pet life

The Monroe Police Department honored K9 Jet during the Monroe City Council meeting last week for his three years of service to the department as a narcotics detection dog. Most recently paired with Officer Joe Stark, Jet retired from service in December.

Deputy Chief Ken Ginnard presented Stark with a commemorative plaque that included a photo of Stark and Jet to be hung in the lobby of the Monroe Police Department.

"Jet was a valuable asset to the police department. He did a lot of great work for us, in a very professional manner,GÇ¥ Ginnard said. "He's been a great asset, and we really enjoyed having him in the department.GÇ¥

The Monroe Police Department acquired Jet from the Klickitat County Sheriff's Office in 2012, after the county disbanded its drug detection dog program. Jet was just six years old at the time, with several more narcotics detection years ahead of him. He was initially partnered with Officer James Tolbert, but ended up transitioning to Officer Kelly Pitts. When Pitts lateralled to the Marysville Police Department in 2014 and Jet needed a new handler, both Detective Spencer Robinson and Stark applied for the job.-á

It was a bit of a longshot, said Stark, who was basically still a rookie at the time. He is thankful to his superiors at the department for giving him that chance, he said.

"I've been blessed for the last year and a half to work in the capacity of being his handler for the Monroe Police Department,GÇ¥ Stark said. "I'm grateful for that because they let a young officer take an opportunity.GÇ¥

Stark was hired by the Monroe Police Department in 2012. He graduated from the academy on Jan. 31, 2013, completed his field training and was sworn in as an officer in June 2013.

Master trainer Christina Bunn worked with Stark and Jet, helping Stark achieve the 200 hours of K9 training required under Washington Administrative Code. Bunn is the owner and founder of Puget Sound Detection Dogs, and has been training detection dogs for 16 years.

"The dog was already trained, so all I needed to do was show Joe how to do everything,GÇ¥ Bunn said.

In addition to the 200 training hours, Stark and Jet completed a 10-day handler course given by Bunn and K9 expert Fred Helfers, a retired detective from the Everett Police Department. Helfers worked in law enforcement for nearly 30 years, and has been involved with narcotics detection dogs since the early 1980s. Helfers taught the classroom portion of Stark's course, including search and seizure regulations and relevant case law.

Bunn and Helfers work collaboratively, instructing new handlers on how to read their dogs so that they are able to make an effective and cohesive team. The dogs are already trained for detection before they are paired with a handler, so the course is all about training the handler and the dog together, in order to ensure a successful partnership.

To Bunn, Jet was special because the two had a long history of working together. Training a dog for narcotics detection is not easy, but if you have the right dog it can be a very simple process, Bunn said.

"And Jet was the right dog,GÇ¥ Bunn said.

Jet didn't start out as a working dog; he started out as a pet. He lived in the Seattle area, and was quite adept at getting out of his yard.-á

"His owners would go to work and Jet would get out of the yard, and on a mediocre day Jet was coming back with about 11 tennis balls,GÇ¥ Bunn said. "Finally, his owners realized they just couldn't keep Jet because he was he was always getting out.GÇ¥

He ended up a stray, and was eventually rescued by a Seattle-area veterinary worker, whose husband recognized that Jet needed something to do; he needed a job. So, they contacted Bunn. Bunn performed a series of tests on Jet, checking for signs of aggression, socialization and fear of things like loud noises and slippery floors. She tested his ability to stay focused on a toy even in a distracting environment and whether or not he was willing to jump inside or on top of a vehicle.-á

"He passed all my tests in less than an hour, and I said "Yep, I want that dog,' GÇ¥ Bunn said. "He was a very easy dog to train; very, very driven; very, very focused on his toy.GÇ¥

Jet went to work for the Klickitat County Sheriff's Office in 2008, and was partnered with Deputy Ed Gunnyon.-á When the bulletin went out in 2012 explaining that Klickitat's program was dissolving and Jet was available to work someplace else, the Monroe Police Department jumped at the chance, having seen him perform at K9 conferences.

Once Jet came to Monroe, Tolbert, Pitts and Stark were all trained by Bunn.

Bunn's work with Stark involved teaching him to identify and distinguish what was going on with Jet based on his body language. Bunn trains detection dogs to employ a scratch response, meaning once they locate the odor they are tasked with finding, they respond by scratching. Some trainers will use a sit response as an alternative training method, but Bunn prefers scratch.

"It keeps the dog focused on what you want them to find, and it's the handler's responsibility to learn how to reward the dog in a quick manner so that it doesn't cause any damage,GÇ¥ Bunn said.-á "In all the years that I've been doing it, none of my officers or their dogs have ever had a problem with damage to a civilian's property because of the scratch response.GÇ¥

The important thing is for the handler to recognize the multitude of signals that come before the final scratch response, Bunn said. Behavioral changes like rapid tail wagging, intensive sniffing and certain posturing of the ears and shoulders are all indicators the handler must learn to read.

Detection dogs are trained using the classical conditioning method in which the dog learns to associate the smell of narcotics with a reward, which is the dog's toy. Through training, Bunn's dogs learn to associate odors with reward through the use of a rolled up terrycloth towel ' the toy ' which has odor molecules adhered to it. Initially, no narcotics are used; it is simply the odor that adheres to the towel, making it totally safe for the dog.-á

"The dog plays with this scented towel and he has a great time,GÇ¥ Bunn said. "Then you start actually putting the controlled substance out and the dog has made an association; "Where there is that odor, my toy is also, and I really like my toy.' GÇ¥

Stark worked hard to understand the process.

"He seemed to enjoy being a dog handler and he tried really, really hard to learn what he needed to do to do right by the dog,GÇ¥ Bunn said. "He was really happy to be selected for that position.GÇ¥

Stark said Jet's extensive experience as a narcotics detection dog made his transition to a K9 handler a bit easier.

"I got a veteran dog, so he taught me,GÇ¥ Stark said. "I just had to learn to trust him.GÇ¥

The two completed the training in July 2014. One of their most memorable detections, recalled Stark, was a call that came in from the Washington State Patrol. Typically, K9 teams are on-call and sometimes used to assist other jurisdictions. A state patrol deputy had a driver pulled over for DUI near Everett and thought he was acting suspicious.

Stark and Jet were deployed, and Jet alerted to the driver's side door. A search warrant was obtained and a half-pound of heroin was seized.

"That was a cool moment,GÇ¥ Stark said. -á -á

Jet is now 10 years old, and will retire with Stark, his wife, Gretchen, and their young son. Gretchen said they respect the service Jet has provided to the community, and they're looking forward to spoiling him in his retirement.

"We love him,GÇ¥ Gretchen said. "We're really looking forward to rewarding him.GÇ¥