The State Police Association of Massachusetts
[Memorial to Fallen Officers]

Trooper Erik Ramsland and K-9 partner, Wolf showed their range recently as they answered a couple of calls from Millbury and Deerfield PDs. In Millbury, a local man had the usual “too much alcohol” in his system to be a responsible father to his 10-year old daughter, and suddenly found her missing from the house. When police got there, it was revealed the girl was gone for up to 2½ hours. The father had no clue. Millbury PD quickly requested a K-9 team and Erik and Wolf arrived shortly after. They wasted no time. The girl’s bedroom pillow was used as a scent article for K-9 Wolf to begin his track. K-9 Wolf seems to have a place in his heart for kids, and it was evident here, as he flawlessly tracked through heavily contaminated residential streets for a full mile until finally locating the girl hiding under the porch of a stranger’s home. Millbury PD and Fire tended to the freezing child and got the low down on why she took off. Her version differed quite a bit from the inebriated father’s version. In any event, I’m sure the radar will be on around this house.

Over to the town of Deerfield; Erik and Wolf responded there after a couple of local daredevils in a stolen car refused to stop for DPD, leading them on a pursuit through the area. Ultimately the driver’s high speed driving skills eroded, causing them to crash, so they bailed on foot. The tracking team got rolling as a perimeter was set up by available B-2 Troopers and local officers. After negotiating terrain of all sorts, our tracking team found themselves in a neighborhood. Wolf determined which house the stolen car suspects were likely hiding. As Officers knocked on the door, Wolf had ideas of his own. The dog made his way around the house and alerted to one bad guy hiding in the woods. His buddy was just a coin toss away hiding in a tree directly above. Both were arrested and charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, etc.

Trooper Ray Jones (C-2) was on patrol in the town of Milford and had two more bail out on him during a motor vehicle stop on Rte 85. The Trooper began chasing the driver through a hotel parking lot, but the driver got to the edge of the lot and fell 30 feet down a rock embankment. Just when you thought this knucklehead would be sprawled out with broken limbs, lying next to the “ACME FALLS” sign, he sprung to life and continued to march in full sprint away from the Trooper. The passenger was now nowhere to be found. Ray marked the spot and called for K-9. Trooper James Bigelow and K-9 Quarry arrived in a timely forty minutes. They were led to the spot at the bottom of the embankment where the driver landed, and they began the track from there. This one went around and through several parking lots in this industrial stretch of Rte. 85 in Milford. K-9 Quarry then led the charge to the base of another embankment and alerted to the suspect hiding in the marsh. Suspect arrested and charged with numerous motor vehicle offenses. 

Sgt. Steve Smith and K-9 Frisco responded to Rtes. 12/20 in Oxford to assist the Oxford PD with locating a B&E suspect. Upon arrival, Sgt. Smith talked to the homeowner, who told him that at approximately 7:00 PM he left in his car to go to the Home Depot store nearby. On his way out of the driveway, he saw a subject sitting on a stump near his property. The homeowner didn’t think much of it at the time because this stretch of road is busy, and it’s not uncommon to see people there. When the homeowner returned approximately one hour later he found broken glass at his door. He entered the home and immediately smelled smoke, but not the bad kind. It smelled to him like somebody had burgers on the grill. A closer look revealed whoever broke into his house also helped themselves to the fridge and did in fact cook up a tasty little burger while they were there. Armed with this information, Sgt. Smith retrieved K-9 Frisco and began to scent him along the perimeter of the homeowner’s property. When the K-9 team neared the area where that man on the stump was sitting Frisco started enthusiastically scenting something off the ground. In fact Frisco took it one step further and had a little bite of something on the ground. It turned out it was the remains of a recently cooked burger! Upon consuming, er,  administering the evidence, K-9 Frisco was off and tracking. Along Rte. 20 westbound they went for a couple hundred yards. Frisco then banked a hard right into the woods. He immediately alerted to an opened bag of pretzels (yeah right) and continued tracking up to a clearing. The first thing they encountered there was a backpack. Next thing they saw was the suspect, apparently a homeless guy, raising a can of Budweiser and toasting the arriving K-9 team. I think he got the Bud from the fridge too. He didn’t drop that though, did he? He was taken into custody and charged accordingly. As it turns out, the Oxford area has had a string of recent burglaries that are similar to this one. Not sure what was on the menu with those ones, but this chef remains a suspect.

One of our newest teams, Trooper Gary Hebert and K-9 Ollie, have also been making some decent finds. Like most of the SP K-9s, they serve more than one function. In addition to K-9 patrol, Trooper Hebert and K-9 Ollie recently became certified in the field of cadaver recovery. They were put right to the test this past October when State Police detectives, who were investigating the discovery of a human skull at the Hillside school in Marlboro, requested their assistance with locating any further remains or evidence. Like he did so many times throughout cadaver training under the watchful eye of Sgt. Kathy Barrett, Gary deployed his K-9 partner in the wooded area and signaled for him to search. K-9 Ollie did not disappoint either. Just like in training, after working the area for a while Ollie suddenly displayed a distinct change in behavior, then maneuvered himself into the patented “down stay” position and waited intently for approval from his handler. Gary went over to see what the dog had alerted to and discovered his partner on top of a second human skull. Detectives were notified and more intensive search efforts resumed. Sgt. Barrett was able to provide detectives with a whole pack of certified cadaver dogs. She even had 2 teams from as far away as San Diego, CA (Agents Lopez and Vasquez). Pennsylvania SP K-9 also assisted, as well as MSP K-9 teams of Trooper Pillsbury and K-9 Ranger, and Trooper Kiley and K-9 Darko. These other agencies came here for training because Sgt. Barrett is considered a nationally renowned trainer of cadaver dog teams. When all was said and done in this multiple day search, these K-9 teams were responsible for helping to locate over 60% of the first body and over 80% of the second body, as well as key pieces of evidence such as a bracelet and ring.

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