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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, December 5,2018
Dawson County Sheriff’s office remembers K9 officer
By Jessica Taylor
jtaylor@dawsonnews.com
On Thanksgiving night, the
Dawson County Sheriff’s Office
lost a valuable member of their
K9 unit. Hector, an 8-year-old
Belgian Malinois, died unex
pectedly and was found by his
handler Zach Smith during a
routine check around 8:20 p.m.
Nov. 22.
He was one month away from
retirement and would have
turned 9 years old on Feb. 2.
“It was so unexpected and
then on top of that he was about
to go be a pet,” said Sheriff Jeff
Johnson.
Hector was displaying signs
of old age such as hip issues
commonly found in large,
working breed dogs.
“You don’t think of a dog, 9
years old, as being old, old but
apparently working dogs - they
have more issues and things like
that than a house dog,” Johnson
said.
Hector joined the sheriff’s
office in 2012 when he was 2
years old. He was trained at
Custom Canines Unlimited in
Maysville for drug detection
and tracking and apprehension
and had two handlers in
Dawson County prior to being
paired with Deputy Zach Smith
four and a half years ago.
“Hector was funny. Hector
was not an attention dog,”
Smith said. “Hector loved to
work. Hector would let you pet
him but that was it. He was let
ting you pet him. He was defi
nitely not the dog that would
run up to you and say ‘pet me,
pet me.’ He wanted to get in the
car and he wanted to go to
work. He enjoyed finding peo
ple and finding drugs and that is
what he lived for.”
As a team, Smith and Hector
helped not only Dawson
County, but the surrounding
counties of Forsyth, Lumpkin,
White and Fannin as well as
assisted with the Georgia
Bureau of Investigations and the
Appalachian Drug Task Force.
From tracking fleeing felons,
finding lost children and the
elderly with dementia who wan
dered off to sniffing out drugs
and taking down suspects,
Hector did it all.
“That was our job every day.
He loved every minute of it and
so did I,” Smith said.
Hector had a good reputation
in the county, according to
Smith. With his 12 hour training
every Wednesday and his drive
and passion to work, he didn’t
make many mistakes on his
alerts.
When Smith calculated their
track record and numbers last
year, the partners had 94 per
cent accuracy on alerts.
“I can tell you off the top of
my head there’s three in our
four-and-a-half year career.
There were three cars where we
did not find something in it,”
Smith said.
Two of those three vehicles
did however contain enough
drug residue to be substantiated.
The first driver admitted to
throwing drugs out of the win
dow before entering the traffic
stop.
The second driver admitted
that a suspect carrying drugs
had exited the back of his truck
before reaching the search.
“The best part about Hector is
he kept me probably out of
more stuff between foot chases
and fights than I’ll ever know,”
Smith said.
Smith smiled as he recounted
some of his most memorable
moments of Hector keeping him
safe without even leaving the
patrol car.
“There was a guy (who) had
parole warrants that was walk
ing right here on Academy
Avenue. This gentleman was
known to either fight or run
from us just about every time
we that dealt with him,” said
Smith.
He explained to the man that
he had outstanding warrants
and that he would be going to
jail.
“He turned and looked at me
and kind of laughed and I said,
‘Well we can fight if that’s
what you need to do, just know
that the dog’s going to come
out the back of the car and
you’re probably going to end
up in the hospital for dog
bites,”’ Smith said. “And I’ll
never forget it. He turned and
looked at the car and the whole
car’s just shaking because
Hector is barking and rocking
the whole car. He turned
around and looked back at me
and said ‘I guess I’ll just go to
jail today.’ He turned around
and put his hands behind his
back.”
In another memorable traffic
stop in Lumpkin County, a box
truck was stopped and the driv
er refused to admit there were
drugs in his vehicle. Smith
grabbed Hector and took him to
use the bathroom before
searching the car, and when the
driver saw the large dog he
quickly admitted to drugs being
in his center console, Smith
said.
“We got more drugs off the
street probably because of
Hector and he never got out of
the car,” Smith said. “People
could hear him bark when we
pulled up on a traffic stop. You
can ask anybody that works
here. They knew when it was
me that keyed up on the radio
because he was barking in my
ear. He got very, very excited
when those blue lights came on
because he knew there was a
chance he was getting to come
out of the car.
“You would be amazed at the
people who would hand us
drugs out the driver’s side win
dow because they thought we
would find it with the dog.”
Because of Hector’s strong
bark and a bite to match, he
helped rid the streets of crime
across north Georgia.
Three months ago during a
traffic stop at Dawson Forest
Road, Hector’s presence played
a role in acquiring over one
ounce of methamphetamine.
And just last month during a
car chase along Ga. 400 and
Hwy. 53, Smith and Hector
tracked and apprehended a sus
pect who tried to escape on foot
in a subdivision.
But the job was never just
about tracking felons and
removing drugs from the
streets.
Hector also searched and
located missing persons, one of
the most memorable being a
13-year-old girl with Down
Syndrome who got lost in
Lumpkin County, Smith said.
Smith and Hector would also
get out in the community for
demonstrations with Boy Scout
troops, local elementary schools
and community events like the
annual Trunk-or-Treat at Rock
Creek Park.
And when it was time to
clock out, the good natured
Hector would enjoy playing
fetch with Smith and his young
son, he said.
“It’s what we did for the citi
zens of Dawson County,” said
Smith. “He loved working. That
is what he did every day. I’m
going to have a hard time find
ing another dog that liked to
work as much as he did, serve
the community like he did. That
is what he loved to do. He was a
good one.”
Johnson said that not every
one can be a K9 handler.
“You get placed in positions
with your partner and with
other ones where you’re looking
out for each other and you have
to put your trust in them. And
you go through things together
that kind of bring you closer so
I can only imagine Zach and
Hector, what kind of bond they
shared even on duty,” Johnson
said. “Not anybody can be
canine handler. It takes a special
person and it takes a committed
person.”
Hector’s body is currently
being examined at the
University of Georgia for exact
cause of death.
At this time, Johnson said
they only know it is medically
related and have speculated
stroke or a heart condition.
Johnson said he hopes they will
have an exact cause of death in
a few weeks.
A memorial service for
Hector will be held at a later
date.
Gabrielle M. Sabini, MD I Charles J. Douchy, MD
Matthew J. Reschly, MD I A. Damian Dhar, MD
Weston I Waxweiler, MD
Anjana Patel, PA-CI Sara Barr, PA-C
Karly Kincaid, PA-C I Nikki Orciuch, PA-C
Julia Ro, PA-C I Jennifer Millsap, PA-C
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