Max apprehended 10 people in the past year resulting in 25 felony charges. Max died in August, after over 7 years on the street. He was on duty 2 days before his death. Over his career he had over 200 arrests to his credit. This is Max’s fifth category win in our annual

K-9 awards. He has now won in the category of Suspect Apprehension three times; as well as having won Tracking and Evidence Detection. Since 2000, Max was nominated 12 times for his service to his community. He will be sorely missed by many of us. Officer Robertson is pictured on the left with his new dog, Nick.

This is the second year in a row that Bart has won this category. This year he conducted over 160 searches for federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies and seven school districts. This year alone, Bart was responsible for the seizure of approximately $1,000,000 worth of narcotics including marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and ecstasy. He also is credited with assisting in the seizure of nearly $300,000 in drug tainted currency. Sadly, one of his more important cases this year happened at a high school where he alerted on the car of a very well stocked teenage drug dealer’s car in the school parking lot. The teen admitted that he had been in business for three years and had been using the Internet to buy drugs overseas.

**Michael Werges & "Riki" Eureka P.D.

This is also the second year in a row for Riki winning this category. This year Riki had several evidence detections which helped lead to convictions. In one case, he located the paraphenalia evidence of a suspected drug induced death in a house that was littered with fast food leftovers and very strong dog odors. In a second case, Riki was called out after another officer noticed the vehicle in a store parking lot. His nose actually detected a "rolling meth lab" in a car which had large amounts of the dangerous ingredients used in the making of methamphetamine. Riki continues to protect and serve his community.

** Dave DeGonia & "*Reno" Kirkwood P.D.

Reno died late last fall and he too was "on the job" up until two weeks before his death. Reno has been nominated ten times for his achievements since 2000, in all five categories that we traditionally recognize. This is his third win in the category of Tracking. He was what we working dog people refer to as a "tracking machine." He had three exceptional tracks this year, including one where he located a suspect in an area that had already twice been searched by officers. Over the years, there have been many apprehensive suspects who have heard Reno’s deep breathing approaching as be worked the tracks, followed by words such as "come out or I will release my dog." We and his community will miss him dearly.