ESTEVAN — The new K9 handler for the Estevan Police Service is looking forward to the experience and hopefully spending more time engaging the community.
Const. Katelynn Ruthven, who is in her sixth year with the EPS, will be partnered with Hektor, an 11-month Dutch shepherd dog. The tandem appeared at the April 16 meeting of the Estevan board of police commissioners, giving the board a chance to meet the pup and to ask a few questions to Ruthven and the EPS executive team.
“I wanted to be the K9 handler because I believe it will be the most challenging and rewarding experience … of my career,” Ruthven told SaskToday.
While they have only been working together for a few days, Ruthven said Hektor has already shown that he is eager to learn and catching on quickly. A date hasn't been set yet for when Hektor will finish his training. Ruthven will also have to go to Regina so she and Hektor can be validated together.
“I have been fortunate to go to Regina and Moose Jaw and spend time with their K9 units, where I gained a lot of knowledge,” she said.
Ruthven added she expects community engagement will be an important part of Hektor's time with the EPS.
“I think community engagement is valuable. I think it improves trust with the public, educates the public and can also deter crime,” she said. “K9s are excellent tools to improve officer and public safety.”
Once Hektor is finished his training, the EPS will have two police dogs until the current animal Max is retired. Police Chief Jamie Blunden told the police board that Max is nearing the end of his career; the EPS doesn’t know if it will be in a couple of months or a year or two.
Blunden said Ruthven was selected after interviews and evaluation by Sgt. Paul Chabot, who is in charge of the K9 unit and Max's handler, and Insp. Tyler McMillen, who is a former K9 handler. The EPS executive team also discussed the importance of a police dog.
“There’s no way that we can move forward without having a dog for that extra tool in our tool belt for the members out there," Blunden said. "The expertise that a dog brings, and the ability to make our members safer on the street, we can’t go without a dog. That’s why we looked at this and said ‘Let’s move forward.'"
Other officers applied after a K9 application, the chief said. Candidates went through interviews, physical fitness tests and more, and while the other applicants were capable of doing the job, Ruthven was selected.
“She is very focused on her work, and no matter what it is, she applies herself 100 per cent. We’re fully confident in her ability to be able to work with Hektor here, and become a good team together for, I’m hoping, the next eight to 10 years.”
As for Max, Blunden said the dog is 11 years old but is still doing well. He added a shepherd’s working life is usually eight to 10 years.
“We’re getting to the point where to be pro-active, we decided that we would look at another dog, and that’s why we went down and picked up this dog,” said Blunden.
Hektor has already received some training in Alabama, the chief said, but the training for tracking and sniffing hasn’t been completed. Before that happens, Ruthven is going to look after Hektor, and she will be spending time with Chabot.
“He’s the one who went to Alabama and selected the dog with a sergeant from Regina. Because of the fact that they both have that expertise, they were able to go down, and they looked at a number of different dogs,” said Blunden.
After looking at six or seven different dogs, Blunden said they went with Hektor.
Hektor will be a single-purpose dog, used for tracking missing people, locating suspects and handling other tasks.
“It seems like over the last little while, that the police services that have K9 [units] are going to single-purpose dogs. I think it has something to do with in court, and being able to justify and testify in court,” said Blunden.
Max, meanwhile, is a dual-purpose dog who has been used for both tracking and detection, including drugs. During the police board meeting, Blunden and McMillen speculated Max might be focused on drug detection until Max retires.
Once Max retires, the EPS will have access to a detection dog through other services. It could also bring in a second dog for detection purposes.
Blunden is also looking forward to introducing Hektor to the community and engaging the public through events and other activities.
