The East Haven Police Department (EHPD) recently celebrated the retirement of its K9 officer Ace, who was the steadfast partner of Kevin McGuire, an officer in the department. Kevin worked and cared for Ace, a Sable Shepherd, for eight years—forming a partnership which related to the reason why he joined the police department in the first place.

“One of the reasons why I even became an officer is because I wanted to be a K9 officer,” Kevin says. “The chief at the time, [Brent] Larrabee, put an email out, saying ‘Anyone interested in being a canine officer?’ I told him I was interested, went through an interview process, and I ended up getting selected to be a handler.”

Ace’s breeder and trainer determined that his personality was a good match with Kevin, who saw his work with the police department as a “change for the better” with Ace by his side. Kevin said that Ace was the “best partner I could have” as part of his policing duties, while the responsibility of having to care for Ace made sure that he was fulfilling his role as a handler.

“Having a dog, you can show what kind of effort you put in because the dog doesn’t lie,” said Kevin. “If your dog’s not good, then people know behind the scenes that you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing.”

Kevin compares the necessary consistent training and work he did with Ace to the progress someone should expect to see in their physical fitness. If it is not performed on a consistent basis, the result one which desires to see is not going to be realized.

“I always tell people, ‘Once we train the dog and graduate from the academy, you have to stay on top of training and everything.’ It’s like us going to the gym—you want to reach your goal, and then once you get to that goal, to maintain it, you still gotta keep working out. You can't just stop working out because then you just lose all that progress that you're making.”

Kevin joined the EHPD in 2014, fulfilling a goal he’d had since high school. After serving as a member of the armed forces in Iraq, Kevin returned home and was hired by the EHPD three years later with the intention of working with a K9.

Prior to training with Ace, Kevin spent time bonding with his new policing partner, bringing Ace everywhere he went, making sure they were comfortable around one another, and working on Ace’s obedience.

“Part of some of the training I was doing was cutting up little hot dogs for him as a treat to do some obedience stuff,” Kevin says. “I took him everywhere, introduced him to everyone, just to show him this is everything you're going to see just, so there's no surprise.”

Kevin remembers plenty of times when Ace proved himself to be an invaluable member of the EHPD. Oftentimes, it came down to the dog’s superior sense of smell compared to humans and how Ace used it to track down a suspect or a missing person.

“You’d be surprised how many officers will walk by a suspect that's hiding in the bush, and then with the dog, with their nose, they pick it up, and then we find the person. That's happened numerous times,” says Kevin.

Kevin recalls a particular incident in 2018 which involved a suspect who committed the offenses of carjacking and thievery.

“It was a car that was stolen, ended up crashing, and everyone fled from the vehicle. I caught one, another officer caught one. Then I used Ace and tracked and located the driver hiding in a prickerbush,” Kevin says. “We didn’t even see the kid at first, and the dog darted and I pulled back on the leash real quick, and he goes, ‘Oh, he’s right there.’ We would have just walked right past if it wasn't for Ace.”

Kevin remembers times when Ace was able to sniff out hidden narcotics which were initially difficult to locate in buildings and cars. One time, during a motor vehicle stop with a person who was known to have narcotics on them, Ace was able to smell the substances even when they were located in a “trap inside where the passenger airbag should have been on the passenger side,” says Kevin.

With Ace now retired, Kevin will continue to care for him as another member of the family with Kevin's wife and their Labrador Retriever. Kevin’s new K9 partner is another shepherd named Gunner who, as his name suggests, specializes in gun detection, rather than narcotics.

Even as Ace enjoys retirement, Kevin recognizes that his former partner misses his time as an East Haven police officer. Kevin remembers all those times when he would get into his cruiser and then see Ace run straight up to the car upon seeing him leave from home.

“I could already tell he misses it,” Kevin says.