​Fridley Police K9 Nitro Retires After Long Career Of Service

From Fridley Police: Fridley Police K9 Nitro retired on December 30, 2016,after a long career of service to the Fridley community andsurrounding areas. In October of 2009, Fridley Police welcomed their first two 4-leggedpartners, K9 Nitro and K9 Kona.

For seven years, Nitro faithfully served the city and citizens of Fridley. He was deployed 504 times over the course of his career, including 45 apprehensions and 150 narcotics alerts. K9 Nitro was a welcomed guest at countless community events and public presentations. He saved many hours of officer time and enhanced their safety by using his canine capabilities to conduct searches of areas and buildings.

In 2011, K9 Nitro was one of three rookie dogs to qualify for National Certification where he received a 5th Place Region Team Trophy. K9 Nitro is an 85-pound German Shephard. He served as a dual purpose police dog and was certified in narcotics detection and Police Dog 1 by the United States Police K9 Association (USPCA). His training was in obedience, suspect search, agility, article search, narcotics detection, crowd control and criminal apprehension. He was also trained to detect the four major illegal street narcotics of marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine.

Nitro proudly shook Mayor Scott Lund’s hand at a recent Council Meeting when the Mayor declared December 27, 2106 as K9 Nitro Day.We thank K9 Nitro and his Handler, Sergeant Chris McClish, for their commitment and contributions to keeping Fridley safe.

Photos courtesy of Fridley Police