Paw & Order: LHPD's K9, Evo

K9 Evo – and his drivers – took time out of their duty day to give our readers an inside look at what it takes to maintain law and order in Liberty Hill.

by Charlotte Kovalchuk • photos courtesy LHPD

SO, EVO, WHAT IS IT LIKE BEING A NARCOTICS DETECTION AND TRACKING K9?

For me, being a narcotics detection and tracking K9 is the best thing ever. It’s like I am always playing a game and at the end of the game if I do well my Kong magically appears. It surprises me every time and I love it. When I am needed for narcotics detection, a bad guy or girl (I don’t care what they identify as) has hidden something my dad says is bad inside or outside a vehicle and won’t let my dad or his friends find it. So they wake me up and I walk around to see if I can smell any illegal drugs. If I do, I will tell my dad I smell drugs (it’s a secret how I tell him) and then he or his friends are allowed to get the bad drugs.

I can also track people. A bad guy or girl (again, I don’t care) will try to run and hide from my dad and his friends and, first, I hear my dad yell for the bad people to come out, but they never do. And I always wonder why they don’t, because I am a world-class hide-and-seek player and my dad tells them ahead of time I will find them and when I do they may get bitten. (I don’t bite a lot; I would rather have my Kong after I find the bad people.)

My human wakes up late — around 6 or 7am. He then complains that his little humans never let him sleep, but I don’t understand that either because I have been staring at the door since 4am waiting for him to let me out. I mean, I do love my kennel and when I say love, I mean it’s the most comfortable place in the world and I cannot get enough of it. I then run around the yard smelling to see if my human has been anywhere without me and then I have to mark my territory so my human knows where I’ve been. Then I watch the little humans run around like they are feral and then wait for my dad to tell me it’s time to go to work. Some days are bad days — my dad says I cannot go to work because it’s “his day off.” On those days I don’t listen to him and just do what I want because he is slow and cannot catch me. I also encourage the little humans to not listen to him as well; this makes my dad so happy. Then I eat my dinner and go to sleep just to do it all again the next day.

HOW DO YOU KEEP IN SHAPE FOR THE JOB?

Before I came to live with my dad, I would lie around a lot and was very happy with my weight. My dad then got me and said I eat too much, so I had to start running. But he throws my Kong a lot for me and when I get too tired, I just don’t let him have it back. But since we started playing “bring the Kong to dad,” I am up to playing about 20 to 30 minutes straight and my dad says I am healthier now. I think I should start throwing a Kong for my dad so he can be as healthy as me.

ANY INTERESTING STORIES FROM YOUR TIME ON THE JOB?

My dad just got me in January so I have not been on the job very long, but there was one time a bad guy drank too much alcohol and wrecked his vehicle. The bad guy then ran off in the woods. I got happy because now I could play hide-and-seek. I started seeking him and after a while I saw him in the grass. He was the silliest bad guy and was not good at the game, he was literally laying on the ground like an inch worm with his back side sticking straight off the ground. It was so obvious that my dad could have found him, and my dad is not as good as I am at hideand-seek.

Businesses and schools can request a public demonstration to see Evo in person. For more information, email Evo’s handler, Officer Mitchell Archbell, at marchbell@libertyhilltx.gov.