Handler – Officer David Sturman<\/p>\n
Retired K9 officer mourned<\/p>\n
The Delaware community was in mourning Thursday after news that retired police K9, Sgt. Argo, had passed away. Argo, 12, joined the City of Delaware Police Department in summer 2007 and began working with Patrol Officer David Sturman. Sturman and Argo trained together for narcotics detection and other work, including searches, tracking, handler protection and public relations. Sturman wrote Thursday that Argo\u2019s career highlights included detecting 33 pounds of marijuana wrapped in air-tight packaging and masked with layers of motor oil, helping to detect the largest amount of illegally possessed pills ever found in one traffic stop in Delaware County, and winning gold at the 2010 Can-Am games in Dublin. Sturman said that Argo was deployed 1,125 times during his eight-year career. Argo retired in 2015 and lived with Sturman and his family. Sturman wrote Thursday that Argo was protective of Sturman\u2019s family, especially his children. \u201cHe lived the rest of his days lounging around and enjoying the company of his crazy canine sister, Bella,\u201d Sturman wrote Thursday. \u201cArgo quickly became accustomed to being allowed to beg for treats, and sleeping on the floor next to his human mom, Kathy\u2019s, side of the bed.\u201d Argo passed away Thursday after a \u201clong battle\u201d with kidney disease and other age-related problems, Sturman said. \u201cI\u2019m proud of him for everything he accomplished,\u201d Sturman said Friday. Sturman added one of his proudest memories of Argo happened after they had been working together for about a year when he and Argo were called in on their night off to investigate a break-in at the then-under-construction SourcePoint. The call came in during the middle of the night, and Sturman explained that three suspects had broken in and two of them had been apprehended by the time he and Argo arrived. \u201c(We decided we\u2019d) let Argo search for him,\u201d Sturman said. \u201cIt was such a large building. There were so many places someone could hide.\u201d Sturman said Argo started pulling him toward the under construction elevator shaft and as they approached, he heard a voice call out of the shaft pleading, \u201cPlease don\u2019t let your dog bite me.\u201d \u201cIt was almost humorous,\u201d Sturman said Friday. \u201cWe would never have found this guy. What it taught me is to trust your dog, because their senses are way better than ours.\u201d Sturman said Argo was \u201cselfless\u201d and always did the job he was given \u201cwhether he wanted to or not.\u201d As an example, Sturman said Argo hated having his face wet, especially in the rain, and said Argo would rub his face on Sturman\u2019s pants to dry it off before going back to work.Sturman said that a component of Argo\u2019s job was being out in the community, and because Argo\u2019s disposition was so friendly, many people in Delaware came up to pet him. \u201cWe tried to share (Argo) as much as we could,\u201d Sturman said. \u201cAnyone could come up to him.\u201d City of Delaware Capt. Adam Moore said Friday that Argo\u2019s legacy at the police department will live on. \u201cThe police department is deeply saddened by Argo\u2019s passing,\u201d Moore said. \u201cHe dutifully served the city in many roles; protector, faithful partner, and goodwill ambassador. Although he has left us, the impact of his service in the community will always remain.\u201d The post on Argo\u2019s Facebook page notifying the public of his passing had hundreds of interactions and dozens of comments Friday afternoon. \u201cHe will be missed immensely,\u201d Sturman said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Handler – Officer David Sturman Retired K9 officer mourned The Delaware community was in mourning Thursday after news that retired police K9, Sgt. Argo, had passed away. Argo, 12, joined the City of Delaware Police Department in summer 2007 and began working with Patrol Officer David Sturman. Sturman and Argo trained together for narcotics detection …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6737,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-6735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-k9memorial","tag-oh"],"yoast_head":"\n