St. Louis County’s New K-9 Thor Debuts By Successfully Tracking Wanted Felon

That didn't take long.  The St. Louis County Sheriff's Office just completed training with it's newest K-9 Thor and he's already showing his value to the team on his debut mission.

In only his second week on the job with Deputy Marty Thorne, K-9 Thor helped track a wanted felon in Hibbing.  The incident happened on the evening of July 7.  According to details shared by St. Louis County, the Hibbing Police Department had tracked a suspect who was fleeing by foot from a felony warrant. Their team needed to rest, so Deputy Thorne and K-9 Thor took over.  The report details pick up from there:

"Thor followed down a gravel road and into a wooded area, leading directly to where the suspect was attempting to hide behind a log.  The man surrendered without further incident and is currently in custody at the St. Louis County Jail."

Praise for the K-9's action, Deputy Thorne, and the team came from the top brass.  Lietenent Jason Akerson - who's in charge of the K-9 program for the St. Louis County Sheriff's Department, commented:

"This was a great team effort by all involved.  K-9's have the ability to help us do our jobs more efficiently and safely, and in this case, they were even able to help each other in a tag team effort, with the end result being a wanted felon is now in custody."

K-9 Thor is a three year old Czech Shepherd. Thor recently completed his 14-week training session in late June and now he is certified as a dual-purpose K-9, meaning that he is skilled at both narcotics detection and patrol duties such as finding people and evidence.

Both K-9 Thor and Deputy Thorne are based out of the Hibbing office.