By Melissa Moore-Randall
Students at the A.C. Whelan Summer School Program were recently treated to a visit from the Revere Police Department’s K9 Tek and his handler Sgt. Carey. Students learned how K9s are trained to work as police dogs and Tek’s role within the Revere Police Department. Sgt. Carey did demonstrations on some of Tek’s main roles as a K9. The students have been part of a Summer School Program that has run for the past 6 weeks focusing on academics and enrichment activities.
The role of Police K9s have been headlining the news recently. Legislation known as “Nero’s Law,†which would allow police dogs and other working animals to be treated or transported by emergency medical personnel, provided there is not a human in need they must attend to, is presently being debated at the Massachusetts State House.
“Nero’s Law†was introduced after the death of Yarmouth Police Sgt. Sean Gannon in 2018. Gannon, 32, was killed when he, his canine partner Nero, and other officers from Barnstable and Yarmouth were serving a warrant. K9 Nero was also shot on the scene. Nero survived his injuries, but because of existing state laws emergency personnel were not able to provide care or transport the canine partner to an emergency veterinary clinic as they would for a human first responder.
The bill came to the forefront in the wake of the June death of Braintree Police K9 Kitt. Kitt was fatally shot while charging a suspect who had fired upon Braintree officers including his handler Officer Bill Cushing. Both Braintree officers survived.
