LANCASTER – K-9 officer Rex began his career with the Lancaster Police Department in October 2012. So, when it was time for Rex to retire, his partner Sergeant Stoney Logan knew there would be no comparison. He still had to find a replacement.
Enter sassy K9 Kira.
Kira is a 2-year-old female German Shepherd from the Czech Republic. She was purchased from K9 Working Dog International facility in Pensacola, Fla., and she’s a dual purpose K9. In short, the new addition to the Lancaster PD team is trained in narcotics detection, article search and tracking, and rumor is she likes her new partner Sgt. Logan too.
“Although Kira and I have been together for a short time we have bonded and continue to work on understanding each other,” Logan said. “We do a lot of training and so far have done a building search for burglary suspects, tracking for suspects and one call out for a vehicle search when we were off duty.”
Human, K9 tracking suspects
Logan said on the building search and tracking the suspects had a 15-minute head start and left in a vehicle that they were able to track.
“We did track the suspects exit route from the house into the alley and to where they had the car parked. An arrest was made the next day and the suspect supplied this information,” Logan said. “We got a positive alert on the car, but no narcotics were found. The occupants stated that people that used drugs were recently in the car.”
Kira has a great disposition, very similar to Rex and is good with the public and kids.
She is a no bite K9 and can do public service engagements and has no aggression toward other animals. Logan said she can also bark on command, which is helpful for a barricaded person situation and crowd control.
Energetic Lancaster K-9 officer goes on patrol
“Kira is full of energy,” Logan said. “She’s like the high energy 2-year-old turned loose on the playground. She wants to go, go, go.”
Kira has some large paws to fill when it comes to replacing Rex. He had some great accomplishments over the years. From narcotics busts to tracking people, Rex was known around the Best Southwest for his tracking abilities and narcotics finds.
“After being with Rex for so long and working at his pace, I find myself pushing to keep up and having patience with Kira’s drive,” Logan said. “She’s young and I understand she has to do her work for her reward of the ball. That’s her real drive is to get her toy and she loves her ball.”
The good news is all the Lancaster Police Department personnel love her and her energy. And she never complains about going to work.
“On her first day we had a group of elementary students at the police department and we did an unscripted presentation for them. She was a big hit,” Logan concluded. “I hope to do more community work with her letting the public know she is here and her duties.”
