SLO Deputies Say Goodbye to Dedicated Crime Fighter
Nico was among the one percent of dogs smart enough to work for law enforcement.
Nico came to the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Department in 2011.
Deputies retired him in 2014 because he was sick, but he continued to live with his handler deputy Steve Faeth.
Faeth said Nico had exceptional abilities, including tracking down suspects or victims and locating drugs.
Faeth described one day one the job saying deputies wouldn’t have found the suspect that day if it weren’t for Nico. “You trust your dog because they’re the ones with the senses.” Faeth said, ” We followed him in a brushy area (describing a day working together) and found a suspect 100 yards in there.”
At the memorial service on Wednesday, K9 units made the trip from Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, the California Highway Patrol, and others in San Luis Obispo to pay their respect.
Allen Barger, a San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s office senior deputy and canine unit coordinator, said in 2012, under the direction of Sheriff Ian Parkinson, the department expanded it’s canine program.
“They’re a force multiplier,” Barger said, “Which means we can put more deputies on the street handling patrol calls.”
Barger’s canine partner, Jack is one of six service canines in San Luis Obispo. Barger said, “He can go in and do a job a lot quicker, without putting the deputies at risk.”
“Another great thing about having the patrol dogs, means they can make apprehensions,” Barger said, “What that means, is if they’re up against a dangerous criminal, or the patrol deputies are being threatened by a criminal on the street, just the mere presence of having the dog out will convince that person to go into custody without us having to use force.”
The canine program is paid for my asset forfeiture money, Barger said “This mean’s it didn’t come from taxpayers, it came from drug dealers.”
The department currently has four cross trained patrol dogs and two “dope” dogs one is assigned to special operations and the other to the prison.
