Dexter Police welcomes Knox to the force

Knox

The Dexter Police Department has a new officer on duty and his name is Knox.

Knox, who will turn 2 in January, is a German Shepherd from Budapest.

“He (Knox) means the world to me,” his handler officer Thomas Forkum said. “After the loss of my first one, having this one is just, I can’t really even put it into words.”

Forkum admitted after the death of the previous K9, Bard in June, he was not sure he wanted to be the K9 handler again because Bard had meant so much to him.

A few weeks after the loss of Bard, Chief Trevor Pulley informed him that there was an opportunity to acquire a new K9. If Forkum wanted to, he could again be the handler.

Forkum said he talked it over with his wife and she said to do it because he couldn’t work without a K9 now.

Forkum and Knox started training in Cape Girardeau in September. After eight weeks of training Knox went on duty the first of November. Knox has already been beneficial.

“I think I have done in the neighborhood of six or eight vehicle sniffs with him,” said Forkum. “They have all been successful in locating drugs and drug paraphernalia.”

These stops resulted in several arrests, according to Forkum.

“He is very good at what he does, even when it comes to narcotic work,” said Forkum. “That is what he likes to do.”

If Knox has a speciality it is tracking. Forkum stated when Knox gets his tracking harness on he knows it is time to go.

“All he wants to do is get to the end of that track, find somebody and get his reward,” laughed Forkum. “That is his go-to thing.”

Forkum said he asked the trainers at Cape if they had already been training with Knox in tracking. They told him that the training session was his first go at tracking. Forkum stated he was impressed with Knox’s tracking ability and it seemed to come by it naturally.

Knox has not had the opportunity to assist with tracking yet in the field, although one call did come in to assist an area agency. Forkum was out of town at training so this prevented he and Knox from assisting.

Knox is the only police dog in the area so he and Forkum may be called to assist area agencies such as the Stoddard County Sheriff’s Department or Missouri Highway Patrol.