At full K-9 sniffing power

By Barry Porterfield

A county law enforcement agency is back to full four-legged power when it comes to sniffing out illegal drugs, thanks to the addition of a third K-9 drug dog team.

After going through a period without a single dog available, the Garvin County Sheriff’s Department now has a trio of drug-sniffing canines.

Best of all is all three are well trained to do the job, said Sheriff Steve Brooks.

“Our main thing is narcotics detection. All three are state certified in narcotics detection,” Brooks said, adding hopes are for the three to reach that same status for tracking.

“I’m really proud we have three working K-9 dogs, and these dogs are working it hard,” he said referring to illegal drugs.

“Our goal is to have 24-hour coverage with a K-9.”

Not only are all three dogs state certified and on the job right now, the trio shares one more thing — all are German shepherds.

The newest K-9 handler to join the team is Karey Poteet, who is not only the department’s first female K-9 handler but first ever paid female deputy in the history of the county sheriff’s office.

Her K-9 partner is 3-year-old Miki.

As a former K-9 handler himself, Brooks said he spotted early on Karey’s potential for the job.

“I thought she was a good K-9 candidate. She’s a high energy person, has a great personality and is a hard worker,” he said.

“You’ve got to have a love of animals, which she does. You also can’t have a fear of animals. I’ve never seen Karey with any fear of her dog. These two have a lot of chemistry together.”

She completed her certification as a K-9 handler last month.

Karey’s husband, Jeff Poteet, is also part of the team.

A K-9 handler for eight years, Jeff has been matched for some time with Beny — a dual purpose dog used for patrol and narcotics work.

Another piece to the equation came with last year’s arrival of Deputy Chad Weeks fresh from a stint with the Davis police.

Weeks brought with him Xena, a K-9 dog he purchased from the Murray County area department when he departed.

Having a full group of K-9 teams hasn’t always been the case for the department headquartered in Pauls Valley.

After Brooks’ own dog, Brix, retired for medical reasons the sheriff’s office went about a year without a K-9 dog.

That only made the job of finding illegal drugs even more difficult for deputies.

“Detection is difficult without a dog. We found out real fast a K-9 dog is the most valuable tool you can have when it comes to narcotics detection,” Brooks said.

“Humans can miss stuff but not a K-9.”

According to Brooks, it’s this ability in the field and in the classroom as a teaching tool for presentations to school children that makes the K-9 dog so important.

“When it comes to keeping drugs away from kids a K-9 is invaluable.”

The K-9 teams also provide assistance to other law enforcement agencies in the area.

“Our K-9 is always available to other agencies,” Brooks said, referring to city police departments and state troopers.