East Wenatchee Police Welcomes First K9 To Force In 13 Years

The East Wenatchee Police Department has a new four-legged member within its ranks.

K9 Maverick, a three-year-old German Shepherd, officially became the Department's first active police dog in over a decade when he and handler, Officer Jordan Conley, went to work on Monday.

Chief Rick Johnson says the Department wasted no time in getting Officer Conley and Maverick out on the streets.

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"They graduated last week from two hundred and forty hours of training with the (Washington State) Department of Corrections. Most of the training occurred at the correctional facility in Airway Heights. They are certified in narcotics detection and receive that certification as a team."

K9 Maverick will work exclusively as a drug-detection dog, and is certified in locating methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin. He is also one of only three dogs in the entire state who has been trained to detect fentanyl in environments outside of jails and prisons.

Johnson says Officer Conley was instrumental in getting a K9 program restarted in East Wenatchee.

"Officer Conley's been with the Department for about four years. He's actually the one who sort of organized the whole thing and made the pitch to myself and the mayor about getting a narcotics K9 program started."

The City of East Wenatchee hasn't had a K9 team on its police force since 2011, when the only dog it had at the time was retired.

Johnson says the Department raised over $30,000 in donations since the beginning of the year to fund the new K9 unit, which will require roughly $15,000 in annual donations to continue.