Baker City PD Retire Announcement Retirement of K9 Capa
By Garrett Christensen on Friday, April 28th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER CITY – (Release from the Baker City Police Department) On May 1, 2023, Baker City Police Canine “Capa”, the Baker City Police Department’s 10-year-old Belgian Malinois/German Shepard, will retire from the Baker City Police Department. K9 “Capa” served with the Baker City Police for seven years. He was trained to detect odors from Heroin, Methamphetamine, and Cocaine. During his time with the police department, K9 “Capa” was used in 182 deployments resulting in 5.8 pounds of methamphetamine, 3.2 ounces of heroin, 1.5 ounces of fentanyl, and about once ounce of cocaine. He was also instrumental in the seizure of $27,917.00 in cash and 19 firearms associated with illicit drug sales during his career.
K9 “Capa” started his career with Officer Colton Smith in October 2015. In February 2016, when Colton accepted a job with the Oregon State Police, Sergeant Wayne Chastain took on the care and handling of K9 “Capa.” He remained with Sergeant Chastain for the duration of his career.
Community outpouring of support was evident in our annual fundraisers to include the BCPD K9 Drug Prevention Fundraiser live auction, dinner and community raffles held to fund this program. In the entire history of the program, no tax dollars were ever used to subsidize the canine program; it was completely funded from fundraising and donations.
The decision to retire K9 “Capa” did not come lightly; however, due to his current handler’s reassignment to supervision of the Investigations Unit, along with “Capa’s” age, and the recent changes to decriminalization of illicit drugs, we decided now was a good time to go ahead and retire him from the Police Department.
K9 “Capa” will continue to reside with his current handler, Sergeant Chastain, where he will live out his golden years in bliss and treats.
We want to thank everyone for their continued support of this program through community donations and fundraising efforts. K9 “Capa” was a great deterrent to drug trafficking in this city, and his presence will be missed.
