By Gina Yarbrough
Oceanside, CA–The Oceanside Police Department announced the retirement of a K-9 who’s served the city of Oceanside for over half a decade.
After his final shift on September 16, Jenko, a 7-year-old dual-purpose Belgian Malinois police dog, officially retired. He had more than five years of service with the department, the Oceanside Police Department said.
Jenko has worked alongside three different handlers, finishing his career with Officer Marshall, whom he has been partnered with since June 2020. Jenko will remain with the officer in retirement.
Jenko is a dual-purpose K-9 certified in both patrol work and narcotics detection during his final 3 years of service. Jenko also served with Officer Marshall as a K-9 attachment to the SWAT Team, responding to serve in high-risk operations, often aiding in the reduction of uses of force.
In his career, Jenko has had finds leading to over fifty narcotics and evidence seizures, including approximately twenty-five thousand dollars in currency, five recovered firearms, and over one hundred Kilograms of narcotics along with other evidence and drug paraphernalia.
K-9 Jenko has assisted in the location or surrender of over two hundred suspects and has had fifteen direct apprehensions of dangerous felony suspects. K9 Jenko has competed in many K9 competitions and holds top-five finishes in numerous categories.
