Mansfield K-9 officer, partner win award

City police officer Steve Hornback calls working with a dog the best job a cop can have.

“You always have backup,” he said.

Hornback and his K-9 partner, Astor, have been busy during their year and a half together. Astor has sniffed out more than 17 pounds of marijuana and been a part of more than 100 arrests.

The duo won three awards at a recent U.S. Police K-9 Association competition in Marion. Astor finished fourth out of 34 dogs in apprehension and bite work, and seventh in drug sniffing.

The 3-year-old German shepherd was born in Slovakia and trained in Germany. He goes home with Hornback at the end of each shift.

“If you’re not working, he’s just a regular dog. He’s a fantastic dog at home; he fits in real well,” Hornback said. “The second I put this uniform on, you can see a light go on in his eyes, and he’s all business.”

Astor is trained in detecting six types of narcotics, tracking, article search and apprehension. Sgt. Ken Coontz, who supervises the department’s K-9 unit, can appreciate Hornback and Astor — Coontz had a K-9 partner for three years.

“Officer Hornback and Astor are a credit to the Mansfield Police Department and certainly the community,” he said. “They put in a lot of extra hours in training.”

In part because of the economy, the department has only one K-9 unit. Coontz would like to see that number climb to three.

Hornback estimated they trained for 40 hours to get ready for the recent competition. They work from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. to be able to cover second and third shifts. He said only two suspects have tried to flee from his German shepherd.

“They see the dog and they know it’s not worth trying,” he said. “You can’t outrun a dog, especially this one.”

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