Officer and K-9 honored

Tarboro Police Patrolman Michael Trevathan and his K-9 Tazer have worked together for three years. T.J. ROYAL / Staff Writer

Tarboro Police Patrolman Michael Trevathan and his K-9 Tazer have been honored by a national organization for two of their assignments this summer.

The pair were recognized for their work returning inmates after an escape as the Case of the Quarter for Region Four of the United States Police Canine Association between July and September.

On Aug. 23, six juvenile inmates escaped from the Edgecombe County Detention Center Annex inside the Edgecombe County Courthouse. Trevathan said that his K-9 and he helped apprehend five of those juveniles the night they escaped.

The department was also given honorable mentions from the association for the third quarter, both for Trevathan and Sgt. Jesse Webb, the Tarboro K-9 unit’s leader. Webb said the honorable mention came from an incident the night before the inmate escape, where the Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office was looking for a weapon a suspect had used to fire shots within the town limits.

Webb noted that it was “about an acre-sized lot” where the K-9s were looking for the weapon, which was finally found. The suspect in that incident, he added, had been a convicted felon and had charges against him for the weapon possession.

The sergeant was effusive in his praise of the effort Trevathan and his K-9 made in order to earn the recognition from the national association.

“Looking at it, Mike clearly has the best tracking dog in the department (out of the four K-9 officers). He’s trained really hard on the tracking aspect, and it shows. … It’s no accident.”

Lt. Jay Boykin, himself a dog handler for several years with the department, said that between Trevathan, Webb, Sgt. Keith Morris and Cpl. Mike Browning, Tarboro’s K-9 unit logged more than 600 hours of training in 2009. “It speaks well of our program here” to receive the honor for the third quarter, Boykin added.

Trevathan, who has been a K-9 handler for three of his six years with Tarboro, said that he “enjoyed the experience of bringing (the inmates) in” along with his dog back in August. Although he would prefer if it didn’t happen again, Trevathan added that he “maybe” wouldn’t mind having to go out on a track for escaped inmates again.

During a work week, he said that his K-9 and he will perform “three or four” different searches in the area. “It could be anything,” Trevathan said, whether it is a vehicle search, a search of a school area for a suspicious substance, or even an event where Tazer is making an appearance for children.

He added that, along with his work with Tarboro’s K-9 officers, his work with Sheriff’s Cpl. Jason Dawes, and his K-9 Tigo, was appreciated back in August.

Webb and Morris both previously have been recognized as accomplishing the case of the quarter for Region Four of the Canine Association. Region Four consists of North Carolina and South Carolina, and is one of 25 within the United States and Canada.

By T. J. Royal

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