SOLEDAD — Soledad City Council honored police canine Huro during its April 7 meeting in recognition of his retiring after several years of service with the Soledad Police Department.
“K-9 Huro has rendered faithful performance and conducted himself in a most exemplary manner while serving as a member of the Soledad Police Department and has performed his duty as an ambassador of the department,” said Carla Strobridge, mayor pro tem. “He will be enjoying his future at the home of his handler and their family.”
Strobridge read a proclamation detailing Huro’s history within the department, beginning with his joining SPD in March 2017 and being partnered with Officer Walter Tinay for patrol duties and narcotics detection. She detailed Huro’s different trainings, which went through 2019 and added tracking to the canine’s skills.
When Huro came to SPD, he was the only police canine in South Monterey County.
Strobridge read out the number of times Huro and Tinay helped other agencies: Fort Hunter Liggett (three), CHP (seven), Monterey County Sheriff’s Department (four), King City (four), Greenfield (six), Gonzales (five), Salinas Valley State Prison (two), Pacific Grove Police Department (three), Monterey County Jail facility (one), Monterey County Youth Detention Center (three) and an unspecified number of times helping Salinas Police Department.
The duo also responded to the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting incident in 2019.
Soledad’s canine partnership saw seven building and resident searches within the city, non-bite apprehension of three suspects, 18 school presentations and more than 77 narcotic sniffs.
Strobridge credited the unit’s community ambassador role, during which they walked around town and answered questions, handed out stickers to youth and took photo requests. The duo walked more than 1,500 miles together while on duty.
With the retirement of Huro, SPD is not without a canine, as Bo was recently sworn in earlier this year.
“We extend to him best wishes, belly rubs, lots of treats for his retirement years ahead,” Strobridge said. “We wish him a happy retirement chasing tennis balls instead of bad guys.”
She also thanked Tinay for his time and effort in training Huro and taking on the responsibility of having the canine be part of his family. She presented the officer with a shadowbox frame of Huro’s badge and a Soledad patch.
Tinay said he was thankful for the city and community members who have been supportive of the department’s K-9 program.
