01/11/2024
All of us at Police Service Dogs, Inc. would like to wish K-9 Luke a happy and well deserved retirement. K-9 Luke, Thank you for your service and enjoy the rest of your life at home.
We would like to Thank both of K-9 Luke’s handlers for giving him an incredible life as a police dog for the Waynesville Police Department, NC!
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| 𝐊-𝟗 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 |
On behalf of the Waynesville Police Department, we would like to say Thank you to K-9 Luke as it has come time for him to retire at home with his long-time handler, Officer Heath Pressley. K-9 Luke was born on April 10, 2014, in Poland. On July 22, 2015, the Waynesville Police Department purchased Luke from Police Service Dogs and he was originally assigned to Officer Jon Ramsey. Officer Ramsey and K-9 Luke attended a basic K-9 School where he was taught explosive detection, tracking, article searches, and apprehension.
K-9 Luke was the second explosive detection k-9 for our agency and was purchased through an agreement between surrounding local municipalities and the sheriff’s office that if we maintained and trained K-9 Luke, they would fund the purchase with the understanding that they could utilize the resources when needed.
In 2017, after his handler left the Police Department, Officer Heath Pressley became interested in becoming his new handler. Officer Pressley attended a Basic K-9 School through Waynesville PD to learn everything K-9 Luke knew and the fundamentals that went into Luke’s training. Officer Pressley completed training, became certified, and joined K-9 Luke in 2017. From that point on Officer Pressley and K-9 Luke have been a great asset to our agency, surrounding agencies with Haywood County as well as a resource to other Western North Carolina agencies that needed an explosive detection K-9. Obviously, everyone knows that we don’t get a tremendous amount of calls for service regarding explosives, but the value of what K-9 Luke and Officer Pressley provide to a community is efficiency in searching a location where a threat has been made as well as the feeling of security that a complete and thorough search has been conducted and everything is safe. The number of resources and time that goes into any incident involving a bomb threat is enormous. The number of officers utilized, the evacuation of everyone within the targeted area, and the emotional strains on everyone involved are untold. Having a K-9 that can locate potential explosives efficiently and accurately is invaluable!
We are blessed to have had K-9 Luke with the agency for so many years, but it has come time for him to retire and rest with Officer Pressley for the remainder of his life. Being a part of the K-9 community and having the opportunity to work with such a special partner is something that few experience. During your time with these K-9s, a bond is formed that is hard to describe. In most cases, they are with their handlers more than the handlers are with their family. Not only will the agency miss Luke, but I’m certain Officer Pressley will miss having him around in the back seat and will have some adjustments to make as he moves on with his career here at the Waynesville Police Department. Congratulations to Officer Pressley and K-9 Luke for a job well done…..you BOTH were INVALUABLE to our community!
Thank you