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Died – 7/6/15
Handlers – Sgt. Lonnie Myers & Lt. Jeff Dodson
Retired Culpeper police K-9 ‘Buster’ dies of natural causes
Retired Culpeper Police Department K-9 “Buster” died July 6 from natural causes. Ten-year-old Buster was bred in Germany and sent to the United States in 2006. He was put into service in May 2006 at the Culpeper Police Department, where he was trained and certified as a Patrol Dog and a Drug Detection Dog. Buster’s primary handlers during his six-year career were Sgt. Lonnie Myers and Lt. Jeff Dodson. The Culpeper Police Department retired the the police dog in May, 2012 after a successful career as a Police K-9. Buster initially lived with Myers in retirement until he was handed over to a family with a large farm, according to Culpeper Police Major Chris Settle. Buster conducted several successful K-9 tracking jobs, leading to the apprehension of felons in the region. In one of his more high-profile cases, Buster located a suspect who fled the scene of the November 2009 armed robbery of Westside Grocery, in which the clerk was shot during the robbery. With the help of K-9 units, police tracked and apprehended the suspect in an adjacent neighborhood. Buster also located evidence, including the shotgun used in the commission of this crime. Buster received his training and certifications from the American Society of Canine Trainers and was certified in Survival of Armed Encounters, Advanced Urban Tracking, and K-9 Unit Liability Reduction. During the course of his service, Buster was credited with numerous seizures of narcotics that he located in the town of Culpeper and neighboring jurisdictions. According to the police department, Buster’s most important work focused on community outreach, putting many smiles on children’s faces. Buster gave countless presentations to children’s groups such as the Boy Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of America, the Law Enforcement Citizen’s Academy and many other civic groups. His foremost job also came each year at Camp Fantastic where he interacted with children diagnosed with cancer, according to the CPD. “K-9 Buster was an integral part of our law enforcement team at the Culpeper Police Department and helped rid our streets of narcotics,” said Culpeper Police Chief Chris Jenkins. “He was key part of our K-9 program’s history here.” The Culpeper PD currently has two active K-9s named Jackson and Titan. The police dogs live with their handlers.
