Patrolman Stan Balmer training with K9 partner Hunter in Marine Park in 2020, above. Eko, below, joined the force in 2018. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
The two four-legged members of the Red Bank police department’s K-9 unit will retire this month.
At Thursday night’s meeting, the borough council plans to mark the departures of Hunter and Eko (pronounced ‘echo’) for having “rendered faithful performance and conducted themselves in a most exemplary manner.”
Both of the Belgian Malinois breed, the pair have been critical de-escalation tools in tense situations, police officials have said. They cited a 2016 incident in which a suspect threw a knife at Hunter’s handler, Patrolman Stan Balmer, and then grabbed a second knife. Balmer loosed Hunter, which prompted the suspect to immediately surrender in time for Balmer to call the dog to a halt.
Hunter also helped corral two men who attempted to flee the scene of a car crash in 2021, a year after he competed on national television on the A&E program ‘America’s Top Dogs.’
Hunter was the first of the police department’s two crimefighting canines, joining the squad in March, 2015. Eko came on board two years later. Now, according to a resolution on the agenda, the two are “no longer viable or able to work as canine police officers,” and will retire March 31.
Balmer, who launched the K9 unit, will formally adopt Hunter, who already lives with him and his family, and the K9 unit’s other human officer, Patrolman Tanner Shea, will adopt Eko, according to the resolution.
The two men have “agreed to accept ownership of Hunter and Eko, and to provide maintenance and support for Hunter and Eko for the remainder of their natural lives,” the resolution says.
Further details were not immediately available, but redbankgreen hopes to obtain information on the future of the K9 unit.
Here’s the full agenda. The council meets at 6:30 p.m. at borough hall, 90 Monmouth Street. Live viewing is available via Zoom and Facebook.
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