WINTHROP 一 Chief Terence M. Delehanty would like to announce the retirement of valued Winthrop Police K-9 Clint.
Clint has served with the Winthrop Police Department since April 2015 and was partnered with Officer David Brown. They began their partnership by attending a 14-week police academy, as well as a subsequent 6-week narcotics detection course.
Clint and Officer Brown were both members of the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC) K-9 team, which responds to searches in communities across the northeastern part of the state.
Clint took part in numerous search and rescue operations, searches for missing persons, and searches for suspects throughout his eight years of service.
Notably, Clint helped locate a young girl who went missing in Winthrop for several hours, using his ability to track scents to locate the girl hiding under a bed in an abandoned home where the girl’s grandmother used to live. Clint also assisted Officer Brown and Winthrop Police in locating a criminal suspect who kicked in the door of a home in town before fleeing and hiding in a nearby garage.
Officer Brown noted that Clint would often walk in a large circle before pursuing a scent.
“They tell you in training classes that it’s not the dog that’s learning the officer, it’s the officer learning the dog,” Officer Brown said. “You learn their behavior and how they react when they’re looking for an object or a suspect, and you learn to communicate based on their behavior.”
Clint officially retired from his police duties earlier this week and will live out his retirement with Officer Brown and his family.
“It will take him a while to get accustomed to staying home, but he has the run of the back yard now,” said Officer Brown. “He never called in sick for work, and was always ready to go with me and provide the best service he could to the people of Winthrop.”