In six years with the department, Luca assisted in 84 arrests
BATTLE GROUND — After a career spanning six years, a Battle Ground police officer was honored with a retirement ceremony at Monday’s city council meeting.
An officer of the four-legged variety.
K-9 officer Luca and his handler, Sgt. Chris Crouch, logged nearly 1,800 training hours together, deployed 284 times, and captured 84 suspects with only six bites.
“Which I assume were all Luca’s and not Chris’,” joked Battle Ground Police Chief Bob Richardson who, himself, will be retiring early next year.
Aside from helping to arrest bad guys, Luca and Sgt. Crouch were also great advocates for the department, attending 76 events, meet and greets, and demonstrations provided in and around Battle Ground.
When asked, Sgt. Crouch cited a case from 2014 as the highlight of Luca’s career. After receiving information from the U.S. Marshals that a homicide suspect was believed to be hiding out in a residence in La Center, Crouch and Luca were dispatched to assist in the multi-jurisdictional response to apprehend the suspect.
It was quickly discovered that the suspect had fled on foot about two hours before Law Enforcement arrived.
“Better late than never,” joked Richardson, “but we get there.”
After nearly three hours of searching the woods, Luca picked up the suspect’s scent and began actively tracking him.
“Shortly thereafter, through ‘dogged’ determination, K-9 Officer Luca flushed the suspect out of the trees and made physical contact … come on, we all know what that means,” said Richardson to a round of laughter, “with him, before SWAT members safely took him into custody. Not only did Luca overcome the odds of the time delay with this capture, he helped apprehend a violent suspect and provided an early warning of the suspect’s presence for the officers so all involved were able to carry out their mission safely.”
Holding onto a bite stick, Luca posed for pictures with several young children from Daybreak School who had drawn pictures for him.
Luca, who is 8 years old and dealing with joint damage in his right-front leg (not work-related), will embark on a new chapter of his life, retiring to the home of the Crouch family.
In the near future, Luca, along with Sgt. Crouch’s former K-9 partner, Haulf, will be commemorated for their service in a retired K-9 Officer display at the Battle Ground Police Station, Richardson announced.
Sgt. Crouch also recently announced he would be leaving the department to pursue other career opportunities. He said it’s unclear at this point if Battle Ground Police will invest in another K-9 officer. The cost of training and equipping a police dog range from $15,000 to $65,000 according to several online sources.
City of Battle Ground contributed information to this report.
