Our Protectors • May 2022– Page 6
Dog-gone good
NPD K9 unit honored as Professionals of the Year as K9 Smokey nears retirement By Jamee A. Pierson Newton Daily News One of the Newton Police Department’s favorite officers is retiring. Smokey, the K9 unit who has served the community for the past six years, is hanging up his leash for more belly rubs and games of fetch. Smokey, along with his partner NPD Detective Zach Walker, were honored with the Law Enforcement Professional of the Year award. Their work for the department has helped it grow in unique ways and along with strengthening relationships with public. “Typically, K9s can serve their communities for about five to eight years. Smokey has been working for Newton PD for six years now,” Walker said. “His retirement will allow him to spend some years just being a dog. In retirement he will live with me and just live a ‘normal dog life.’ He will stay active with walks and hiking.” Since joining the department in 2016, Smokey has been deployed more than 150 times with more than 100 of those being car deployments and 22 tracking related. An employee of the NPD, Smokey also assisted many other agencies including the Jasper County Sheriff ’s Office, Marshall County Sheriff ’s Office, Mitchellville Police Department, Des Moines Police Department and the M.I.N.E. Drug Task Force. “Det. Walker and K9 Smokey have both been important parts of this community since their partnership began,” Newton Police Chief Rob Burdess said. “Not only have they worked well together in detecting and deterring crime, they’ve also been a part of numerous presentations, community events and school demonstrations
throughout Jasper County that have strengthened relationships with the public.” Walker’s experience joining a K9 unit was definitely a learning experience for both him and Smokey. A former stray, it took Smokey a little while to warm up to the person that would become his future partner. “There was not immediate trust as I expected, which I guessed may have been from his past experience as a stray. In our first training session together, he refused to drop a tennis ball and even starting growling,” Walker said. “Since then, we have trained together over 1,000 hours. Our trust and understanding of each other has become very high.” A hard worker, Smokey was always ready to get out on the job whether it was for a shift, a call in the middle of the night or a holiday. No mater the day or time, the pup was very excited to go to work, Walker said. “This will probably be what I miss most,” Walker said. “I have learned a lot of patience from Smokey. During our training I was always trying to make improvements but they sometimes did not come as fast as I’d hoped. I always learned that through hard work and consistency over time you can really make significant progress.” As the K9 unit, Smokey and Walker did a variety of work. Whether out on a case or visiting kids in school, the team was more than ready to serve the community. “The K9 unit is a unique tool for the NPD. With narcotics, Smokey is trained to ‘alert,’ which is his way of showing he can detect the odor an illegal narcotic. This allows the PD to be more proactive in locating illegal street drugs and can also act as a deterrent,”
Walker said. “Smokey was also trained in tracking which allowed the PD to more efficiently locate person who run from police or are missing.” During his first year, Smokey alerted on a vehicle which resulted in the seizure of approximately $10,249 worth of narcotics. He also helped track multiple subjects who fled on foot after vehicle pursuits. “These opportunities would not be possible without Det. Walker and Smokey’s commitment to this community,” Burdess said. “Thank them both for their service.” In his police work, Walker has contributed to several high profile investigations as a detective. His work on a murder case in 2021 ended with the suspect pleading guilty to the crime, and he is responsible for putting a stop to multiple predators’ activities with two of these cases resulted in the offenders being sentenced to a combined 75 years in federal prison. “Det. Walker has established himself as a role model and leader within the department, and is always willing to go the extra step to help other officers with their cases,” Burdess said.
