Jeff Humphrey, Media Manager, 509.625.6308
Friday, February 12, 2021 at 4:03 p.m.
A Spokane police officer is now patrolling our neighborhoods with his fourth K-9 partner.
Slash is the dog’s name and the German Shepherd hails from the Republic of Slovakia.
Officer Paul Gorman’s former dog, Axl, retired and Slash was selected to replace the veteran K-9.
Axl continues to live with Gorman’s family.
“What’s good about (Slash) is, he’s got a really good set of fundamental skills. He’s a really good scent worker, uses his nose really well. So we’re having some success locating people, so it’s been really good,” Gorman said of Slash.
The Spokane Police Department’s K-9 Unit meets for training three times per month.
The dogs and their handlers work primarily at night when criminals use the cover of darkness to conceal their illegal activities.
“With their ability to locate people, that’s a huge asset for us,” said Gorman.
A dog’s sense of smell is thousands of times stronger than humans.
K-9’s like Slash key on the smell a suspect leaves behind as well as disturbances made on the ground by someone walking away.
“And they’re only deployed when someone can’t be found by other means or they can’t be apprehended and safely taken into custody by other means,” explained Gorman.
Gorman is a patrol officer who responds to call for service until a dog is needed at a crime scene. The 20-year veteran officer feels K-9’s improve his department’s efficiency.
Most of my career has been at night and it took a relatively short time to realize, and do the most good and good to our officers as well, that K-9 was the place to go,” concluded Gorman.
