Meriwether County Sheriff Chuck Smith advised that Deputy Niki Martin and our K-9 “Rico” just recently completed 160 hours of intense Narcotics Detection Certification at the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office in Savannah, Ga. This certification training consisted of vehicle searches, building searches, open field searches, along with other related narcotic detection training. “Rico” was exposed to various narcotic odors to include but not limited too; Marijuana, Cocaine, Crack Cocaine, Heroin and Meth. “Rico” is a 2 ½ year old Belgian Malinois and he completed this certification course as the “Top Dog” of the class.
“I want to congratulate Deputy Martin and K-9 “Rico” on successfully completing this intense training program and coming out as the top K-9 Team is commendable. We have been fortunate to have two K-9’s come out as “Top Dog” that have been submitted to this certification course. Our now Retired K-9 “Rambo” was also able to attain this “Top Dog” status as well. “Rico” will be taking the place of “Rambo” in our K-9 unit. We have been able to acquire all of our K-9’s thus far without tax payer expense. We hope that we can continue that in future acquisitions to our K-9 program.” Sheriff Chuck Smith said.