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Handler – Detective Todd Carnes
Duke, city’s first canine officer, dies
Tahlequah police officers are mourning the loss of the city’s first canine officer, a 12-year-old chocolate Labrador named Duke. In his later years on the job, Duke came to be described as “a lover, not a fighter,” a description coined by his longtime handler, Detective Todd Carnes. That depiction stuck with the Lab in large part because, unlike his then-fellow canine officer Tedy, Duke wasn’t trained in criminal apprehension, but rather in drug detection. When Duke retired from his full-time role with the Tahlequah Police Department in 2012, he had experienced a year of medical treatments for arthritis, which affected his abilities. Police Chief Nate King said this week that Duke has since been dealing with medical issues. Duke – also known by his badge number, K9-1 – was introduced to the TPD in 2005 through funding from the Cherokee Nation. He was trained in Missouri for about four months before joining the department; afterward, he continued training an average of 16 hours per month with his handler. He also frequently visited schools and churches to meet with children and teach drug-awareness. Carnes approached city councilors in 2012 and asked that Duke be allowed to live out his retirement years with Carnes’ family. Councilors obliged, and voted to make it standing policy to provide handlers of police dogs with the opportunity to care for their four-legged partners after retirement. “He took care of me for six years, so I pushed the issue to take care of him and let him retire,” Carnes told the Daily Press at the time. After Duke’s retirement in 2012, Carnes recalled some of the biggest cases the canine was part of, including the execution of a warrant at a home where methamphetamine was being sold, along with marijuana and other drugs. Carnes said five other dogs ran from the home as officers arrived; cameras had been placed outside the home to alert those inside of impending police activity. When Duke later entered the home to search, he was exposed to several pans of dog and cat food, while canines outside the home were barking and cats were running to and fro inside. “A regular canine search of a house is remarkable enough, but to have all these elements combined can make it difficult for a canine handler to contend with, and it is nearly impossible for a canine to work,” Carnes said. When Carnes and Duke entered one particular room, the canine’s behavior changed. Duke eventually made his way to an open, 50-pound bag of dog food. “Knowing how Duke loves his treats, I’m assuming he can’t stand it anymore and is getting hungry,” Carnes said. “Then, he sits down. This is how he indicates a find – this is his final alert signal to me.” Buried halfway inside the sack of dog food was a sealed, metal can containing meth, marijuana and cash. In another case, Duke led officers to 2.5 kilos of meth floating in a gas tank. The meth had been vacuum-sealed six times over, Carnes said. Duke was the first of four canine officers to work with Tahlequah’s police force. Canine Officer Tedy, “K9-2,” is a 12-year-old Czech Republic-born German shepherd who is also retired from the TPD. He now lives with his former handler, Detective Elden Graves. Tedy was trained in narcotics detection, tracking, article searches, building searches, criminal apprehension and handler protection. The city’s third police dog, Major, was a Belgium Malinois trained in explosives detection, tracking, trailing, searches and criminal apprehension. Major was eventually transitioned to another law enforcement agency. Bo is a 6-year-old Dutch shepherd trained in drug detection. He now works with Graves, and is the fourth and only active canine officer for the TPD.
