A canine working for the Cass County Sheriff’s Office was recently named to the Iowa Animal Hall of Fame. According to the I80 K9 page on Facebook, “Vader,” a 6 year old German Shepherd won the “Hero Category.” Vader was nominated by his Veterinarian Dr. Kate Hoffmann, of Atlantic Animal Health Center. Dr. Hoffmann was recognized at the Iowa Veterinary Medical annual meeting in Ames on Sept 20th, for her nomination. Three animals in the categories, Professional, Companion, and Hero will be recognized at the Animal Rescue Leagues of Iowa’s raise your paws auction April 2019, in Des Moines.

Cass County K9 “Vader” (Photo from I80 K9)

K9 Vader began his career in 2013 with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office. Vader was imported as a puppy from a breeder in Vancouver Canada, by Deputy Kyle Quist and his wife Anne. He was raised in trained in Atlantic at I80 K9. Vader is a dual purpose K9 meaning he is trained in criminal apprehension, handler protection, narcotics, evidence recovery, and tracking. Vader is proven to be very successful for Cass County and has been successfully utilized in several surrounding counties, by multiple law enforcement agencies in both patrol and narcotics deployments.

Vader and Quist have been awarded multiple awards by the Heart of America Police Dog Association. In 2014 the K9 team won Patrol Case of the year and received an award for Master Tracker. In 2016 the team was again selected for Patrol Case of the year and received another award for Master Tracker. October of 2018 they were awarded patrol case of the year. This past year the team has had a few deployments resulting from vehicular pursuits, that yielded significant results.

The first was in Guthrie County. Deputies from surrounding counties had been involved in a vehicle pursuit the previous night. The suspect had been armed with a knife during that pursuit. The suspect was able to elude deputies in his vehicle. Another pursuit the following night ensued with the same suspect and multiple different county agencies. The suspect rammed a deputy’s vehicle causing extensive damage. Vader was used to track and make apprehension of the suspect after wrecking his vehicle. The K9 was stabbed in the mouth during the incident. The suspect was taken into custody shortly thereafter by deputies. The defendant plead guilty to assaulting the K9 and other felony and misdemeanors.

The second significant deployment was in Pottawattamie County. Deputies pursued a stolen vehicle and requested assistance from the K9 team. Two suspects ran on foot after law enforcement executed a PIT maneuver causing the vehicle to wreck in a corn field. Responding deputies advised that shots had been fired at pursuing deputies by the passenger of the vehicle. The passenger stole a pickup at a residence a few hundred yards from where the initial stolen vehicle was and drove it into a standing corn field where it got stuck in water and took off on foot again. The K9 picked up track in the water area where the truck was stuck. The suspect was tracked through the standing cornfield for over a mile of a two mile section.

The K9 located the subject laying in the cornfield and engaged the suspect. The defendant was later transported for medical attention. After a short break the K9 was then used to search for evidence primarily a handgun. The K9 searched several hundred yards of field and located a few items the defendants had dropped. The K9 eventually located a silver and black handgun. The gun was found to be stolen also. At the time The passenger was charged with attempted murder, felon in possession of firearm, motor vehicle theft and other charges. The driver was charged with possession of a stolen weapon, theft of motor vehicle, eluding and other offenses. Due to the K9 assistance this also solved cases in Kansas.