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Newport News Now

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Newport News Now is a daily e-newsletter that launched in March 2016. Articles that ran in our newsletter between March 2016 and March 2018 are available on these pages. Newsletters produced beginning in April 2018 can be viewed on our new daily newsletter page.

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Feb 22

NN Police Hold Memorial Service for Fallen K-9s

Posted on February 22, 2017 at 8:20 AM by Communications Department

Pennsylvania family donates bloodhound puppy to NNPD

Recently, the Newport News Police DepartmentNNPD K9 1 held a private memorial service to honor the lives and service of two of their fallen K-9s, K-9 Duke and K-9 Hammer, who both unexpectedly passed away.

K-9 Duke passed away on January 25, 2017. He joined the Newport News Police Department in October 2013 after being rescued from the  Animal Aid Society in Grafton. Since that time he, along with his partner MPO N. Stewart, had been instrumental in tracking missing persons.  Duke loved to work, but his greatest joy was public demonstrations. He loved meeting people, especially children, during school visits. Since Duke was a rescue, his exact age is unknown but he was likely 8 or 9-years-old at the time of his death.

K-9 Hammer passed away on February 2, 2017 during a dental procedure. Hammer was a dual purpose German Shepherd trained in narcotics detection and patrol. He was born in September 2011 and joined the Newport News Police Department in June 2012. After completing his training in January 2013, Hammer was assigned to MPO J. Hatton and worked and trained alongside him ever since.

MPO Hatton and K-9 Hammer had recently received an Award of Merit from the Virginia Police Work Dog Association for their work to apprehend a hit-and-run suspect in Gloucester on May 31, 2016.  They were also part of the Violent Crimes Reduction Task Force that formed in November 2016 helping  to remove violent criminals from the streets of Newport News.

NNPD K9 2Following Duke’s passing a breeder from Pennsylvania generously donated a bloodhound puppy to the Newport News Police Foundation. During the service, MPO Stewart was surprised when he met his new bloodhound partner, PJ. K-9 PJ and MPO Stewart will begin their training soon. 

The Newport News Police Department would like to thank First Baptist Church of Newport News, Smoke BBQ Restaurant, the Newport News Fire Department Honor Guard and the Newport News Police Foundation for their assistance in making the event possible. And a special thanks to the King Family of Pennsylvania for the generous donation.