Community

Replacing Retiring Wheeling K-9 Officer Keeni Sure To Be ‘Ruff’ Task

The Wheeling Police Department honored retiring K-9 Keeni during a brief ceremony Thursday afternoon in Wheeling City Council chambers after seven years of faithful service to the citizens of the city.

Keeni was recognized for her service by Chief Shawn Schwertfeger and the rest of the department, including her fellow K9s Jericho and Zero. She will officially retire from duty at the end of her shift today.

"Keeni served her department and the citizens of Wheeling extraordinarily during her tenure at the Wheeling Police Department," Schwertfeger explained. "After many years of policing, these dogs never cease to amaze me. The skill set they possess, the loyalty they demonstrate and the service they provide are just a few of the many reasons police departments need our canine friends."

A Dutch Shepherd, Keeni was born in St. Albans in 2012. Shortly after being trained in the areas of narcotic detection, tracking and apprehension through Ultimate Working Dogs and the West Virginia Police Canine Association, she was hired by the City of Wheeling in August of 2014 and assigned to her handler Cpl. Jason Martin.

Over the last several years, Keeni and Martin made numerous arrests, drug finds and entertained many area students and residents at local school and community functions with her jumping skills. Martin said Keeni's retirement is a bittersweet event for him.

"It's a happy and a sad day for me," he said. "Happy to see that she gets to retire in good health, but at the same time a little sad that she has to retire, because I know this is what she loves to do. She loves working."

Keeni will continue to live and enjoy retirement with Martin and his family.

Schwertfeger said the department plans expand the department's K-9 numbers from three to four by later this year. He said they plan to send Martin for training and certification with a newly assigned explosives detection K-9 sometime in April, and then add a new patrol dog to the department sometime later this year.