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The Bartlesville Police Department (BPD) is bringing home the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) Narcotics Search Championship trophy.

Chief Tracy Roles says they are excited for Officer Luke Reeves and his new K9 partner Thaddeus. Roles commends Capt. Troy Newell for his continued efforts to make the BPD's canine program a nationally recognized unit. He says the BPD always strives for perfection.

Chief Roles says they want to be the best police department in Oklahoma. Roles says this is possible as long as they go out and treat people or situations with unconditional respect. He says they might not get it right every time, but they can use those instances to better themselves.

Roles says they want to give the citizens what they want when it comes to policing while treating their officers better than others treat them. He says he couldn't be prouder of the BPD's officers and staff. 

Pictured above (not in order) is all of the K9 Unit handlers, including: Captain Troy Newell, Corporal Ryan Deshields, Corporal Josh Newell, Officer Nick Gonzalez, Officer Cody Lemmons and Officer Cody Loyd.

Capt. Newell says he is very proud of all of his K9 handlers. Newell says Officer Reeves is their newest K9 handler while K9 Officer Thaddeus has only been serving on Bartlesville's streets since Saturday, April 23. He says the whole team is happy even if just one of their guys won because they are all invested in it together. 

Pictured left: Officer Luke Reeves and K9 Officer Thaddeus stand with their trophy after they win the USPCA Narcotics Search Championship.

The Bartlesville Police Department acquired K9 Officer Thaddeus from the Bristow Police Department. Capt. Newell says he saw a diamond in the rough when they were testing Thaddeus. Newell says he told Chief Roles that Thaddeus had a firm foundation and had the potential to be a great officer. He says it was an easy turnaround and the dog came to the BPD at no cost.

City Manager Mike Bailey and Chief Roles gave Capt. Newell the greenlight to get the dog, and a strong bond between Officer Reeves and K9 Officer Thaddeus would shortly follow. Capt. Newell says Reeves and Thaddeus would spend 10 days together before the K9 Officer went through a two-week handler school. Newell says Reeves put in extra work with Thaddeus outside of the course. He says the handler school ended on Friday, April 22.

Capt. Newell says Officer K9 Thaddeus barely made the deadline to compete in the USPCA Narcotics Search Championship. He says it is quite amazing to see how quickly Thaddeus and Reeves have been able to find success together.

2008 is when Capt. Newell was paired with his first dog. Capt. Newell says that was the only dog the BPD had at the time. Newell says it was his vision then to get three dogs: one on each shift with him being a supervisor of the program. He says they have gone from having one dog to seven dogs. One of the canines is a Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) dog, which works alongside a school resource officer.

Capt. Newell says there will always be room for improvement. Newell says Oklahoma has state certification through the Council of Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET) that they are required to have for their K9 Unit. He says they always go a step further by joining the USPCA so they can be nationally certified and be scored by judges from across the country as well. This allows them to look at their rankings and how they can be better.

This is encouraging news for Capt. Newell and the team. Newell says everyone has been instrumental in making this possible. He says this accomplishment would not be possible without everyone giving of themselves.

Newell was recently promoted to Captain. Capt. Newell says being promoted was bittersweet because he was thrilled that Chief Roles had confidence in him to fulfill a vacancy, but he loved working and handling dogs. Newell says they are still in a transition phase. He says he continues to mentor the program but is getting ready to pass the torch as he keeps taking on new responsibilities.

Winning the award came on short notice, so it makes it difficult to celebrate now. However, Capt. Newell says the team will certainly get together to recognize this accomplishment soon. In the meantime, Newell is going to spend time with his family and get ready to lead a Citizens Police Academy course on Thursday night.

Pictured below: Officer Reeves (middle) hoists his trophy with Captain Newell (right) by his side.