TPD celebrates 50 years of K-9

Half of a century has passed since Charlie Bowman got his first dog while working as a patrol officer at the Topeka Police Department.

“Nobody in Kansas had dogs at the time,” Bowman said Thursday night during a banquet at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge, 2649 S.E. 45th, celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the department’s K-9 unit. “Nobody knew the value of them. The public had a hard time accepting them — they would see a police car and ask why a dog was riding around in it.”

While police in New York City had been using police dogs since 1907, Bowman said the thought of having a furry, four-legged partner in 1960 didn’t sit well with some of his brethren in Topeka when the department initiated the first K-9 unit in the state.

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