Rio the K9 Sioux Falls Cop Retires
How would Duran, Duran sing it, his name is Rio, and he was quite the K9 cop!
One of Sioux Falls finest K9 officers is calling it a career. KSFY TV is reporting that Rio, the K9 cop, retired on Thursday, (June 6) after spending seven years with the Sioux Falls Police Department.
Rio, like most other K9 officers, specialized in diffusing certain situations that would have required more assertive action.
Now in retirement, Rio gets the opportunity to kick back, relax, and lead a normal dog life. Which means the only bad guy he will be chasing in the future, will be the neighborhood rabbit that occasionally wanders into the yard.
Lieutenant David McIntire with the Sioux Falls Police Department told KSFY, "It's like losing part of the family when a K9 officer retires. We see them on a daily basis, but the K9 handler especially cares for these dogs, they live with the handler and they train with them regularly, so they spend a lot of time together and they're in the car on patrol with them every minute."
According to KSFY, the Sioux Falls PD currently has five K9 units. Each one of the K9 cops goes through a sixteen-week training program before they're allowed to go out on patrol.
Source: KSFY TV