Staff Report
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office is celebrating milestones in the careers of two of its K9s.
K9 Magnum recently retired with more than six years of service. Magnum is a German shepherd that worked with Deputy Mike McNeil. Together, they have been involved in more than 40 narcotics related searchers and won an award for narcotics searches at the Las Vegas K9 Trials.
Sheriff’s K9 Krypto recently logged his 200th narcotics find. Krypto is a 2-year-old black Labrador retriever assigned to Custody Deputy Ian Ur.
Krypto and Ur work primarily at the Santa Barbara Main Jail, where they search for drugs including methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, suboxone and marijuana.
In earlier 2020, the Sheriff’s Office will be purchasing two additional K9s, one of which will be assigned to patrol operations and the second to custody operations to assist Krypto.
The department also is fostering Tess, a 3-year-old bulldog mix, at the Main Jail through a partnership with the Santa Barbara Humane Society.
Tess’ primary assignments include sleeping underneath various desks, giving slobbery greetings and performing a very limited number of tricks for treats. Tess is not officially part of the Sheriff’s K9 program, though she is counted as a member of the Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office K9 program is funded primarily through donations. To learn more about the K9 program, visit SBSheriff.org. To donate, email Info@sbsheriff.org.
