Police officer Sherod Blackwell won’t have his best partner riding the streets of Hartwell with him at work anymore.
Instead, his four-legged companion of nine years will enjoy the finer things in life as he enters retirement. Justice, a K-9 unit who spent his entire career with the Hartwell Police Department, is hanging up his gear and trading it in for a cozy spot at Blackwell’s home.
The 11-year-old German shepherd has been under the care of Blackwell, Justice’s only handler, since the department first acquired the highly trained dog. Blackwell even picked Justice up for the first time in Florida where he trained with him for several weeks.
“That was my partner,” Blackwell said. “When people say ‘dogs are a man’s best friend’ that’s exactly right. He was there beside me no matter what.”
Justice aided the department in numerous narcotics arrests, tracking suspects on the run and much more while serving the department. Blackwell said Justice once helped find and arrest three suspects fleeing officers through his tracking skills.
“I’m going to miss him riding with me,” Blackwell said.
Handling a police dog is no walk in the park though. Blackwell and Justice underwent 16 hours of training each month while he was in service, on top of a yearly certification with the North American Police Work Dog Association and the National Narcotic Detector Dog Association.
“Justice was what we call a full-patrol dog, so he was certified on narcotics, tracking, criminal apprehension and obedience,” Blackwell said.
One of the most challenging aspects of handling a police dog, Blackwell said, is the obedience training, which is necessary for a full-patrol dog. He said patience is key, as well as how you talk to the dog.
“The obedience work is just like training a child,” Blackwell said.
Blackwell said watching other officers before him who handled dogs, like Stan Sayer and Kevin White, piqued his interest. So when he was offered the chance to work with Justice, Blackwell jumped at the opportunity.
“Not a lot of officers get the chance to be a K-9 officer,” Blackwell said.
Building a bond with the dog is of utmost importance, Blackwell said, because the dog has to be able to trust its handler. He said the first few weeks to a month of training are all about bonding, and Blackwell said him and Justice are very compatible.
“He’s like a part of the family,” Blackwell said. “It’s like having another kid.”
Hartwell Police Chief Anthony Davis said Blackwell, who was also recently promoted to investigator, is the only handler to have a dog from the first day of service all the way to retirement at the department. Davis said Justice served the department well in his time there.
“I couldn’t do it,” Davis said about being a handler. “He didn’t just have the dog at work. He had the dog at home … I commend him for it for all these years he’s done it.”
The department doesn’t have any other K-9 units at the moment, but Davis said he will be talking with city manager Jon Herschell about whether or not they will acquire another dog. Davis also said he doesn’t want to just assign a dog to any officer, but rather he wants someone to step forward and volunteer for it.
“If Jon (Herschell) says ‘yeah lets get another one’ then I’ll go to put it out there to see who wants to handle a dog,” Davis said.
Now that Justice is retired, he’s going to be relaxing full-time, Blackwell said.
“He’s sitting back. I might feed him a couple of steaks now and just let him be a dog,” Blackwell said.