The two-year-old German Shepard met handler Officer Darren “Duffy” Soutar this summer. They have undergone training and certifications with Police Dog Services in Germantown.
Bob fills the position previously held by Gitta, a member of the department since 2008. She retired recently and lives with her handler, Sgt. Greg Adkins, and his family.
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Soutar said Bob is trained in detection of five types of drug odors and is also trained in apprehension of a suspect.
Bob works daily with Soutar and has been used a couple of times on traffic stops, locating drugs and drug paraphernalia during one stop. “Bob is also on call 24 hours a day when our department needs him or if any other departments need his assistance,” Soutar said. “Bob is a great dog.”
An officer with Tipp City for more than 11 years, Soutar said he is excited for the opportunity to work with the K9. “I was always impressed with Sgt. Adkins and Gitta and the great job they did. I wanted to be able to do what he did,” he said.
Adkins purchased Gitta for $1 following her retirement. “Age was beginning to get the best of her and her abilities and we wanted a retirement for a little while of just being a dog,” Adkins said. “However, everyday I leave for work she waits at the door as she always did, ready to go.”
Gitta’s work took her beyond the Tipp City department to assist United States Marshals Service and other area police and sheriff’s departments on a variety of calls from tracking fleeing suspects, narcotics checks, search warrants and article searches for evidence. She was deployed 941 times in her career.
“Due to the hard work of Gitta, more than 600 misdemeanor and 400 felony criminal charges were filed,” Adkins said.
Police Chief Eric Burris said the department has had a K9 program since 1994 when Officer Doug Arnold worked with Lefty. Burris was the handler of Prints, the second dog, followed by Gitta and now Bob.
“The K9 program here in Tipp city is very valuable to us and our neighboring departments as well. We assist a lot of different departments through mutual aid with our dog,” Burris said.
Tipp City and the Miami County Sheriff’s Office have the only police dogs working in the county.
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com.
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