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Photo that rialto Police Placed on their Facebook Page to announce the passing of K9 from Rialto PD

With K9 programs that offer Canine Officers that are skilled in tracking and stopping dangerous criminals as well as locating drugs and firearms on a downward trend in the Inland Empire it is vital that the agencies that still use this very successful program be given kudos for the work they do. If the City of Rialto would have outsourced police operations to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department all those years ago Rialto would not have a lot of what we now have but most notably for this story there would not be a K9 program. The sheriff’s department disbanded their K9 program except for bloodhounds that work search and rescue which is a great service but when your looking for an armed suspect nothing compares to a German Shepard or Belgian Malanois that has pure speed and strength to subdue the ugliest of bad guys. These dogs also provide a great benefit of locating drugs and weapons from bad guys. The last time we spoke to Officer Anderson he told us that the K9 officers in Rialto get called all over Southern California to assist other agencies when a K9 Dog is required and what is cool about that is Rialto gets to bill that agency for the cost of sending that officer to the given call.

iecn photo/yazmin alvarez Rialto Police Departments Glen Anderson watches on as his K-9, Gilley, enjoys taking a bite out of Redlands Police Chief Mark Garcia during a fundraiser Aug. 30.

All of the K9 Police Handlers are great guys but Officer Anderson stood out to me as one of those special Officers that was a great representation of the K9 program and the Department as a whole. So when I opened up my Facebook and saw the message below I was sad to see the passing of a great Canine member of Rialto Police Department:

Today, as a Department and as a community we mourn the loss of our K-9, Gilley. Gilley was a Belgian Malanois who served along side his partner and best friend, Officer Glen Anderson, together they kept the citizens of Rialto safe. Gilley served our community, and all of his law enforcement partners for eight outstanding years. Gilley served as a Patrol, Narcotics and SWAT Canine. His impressive eight year stats are as follows: Gilley located and recovered over 108 pounds …of methamphetamine, 380 pounds of marijuana, 131 pounds of cocaine, 51 pounds of heroin and seized over $2 million dollars in cash. Additionally, Gilley saved the department countless man hours during searches for suspects and evidence. Gilley will truly be missed by us all.

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K9 Gilley was injured during a swat operation and when he was taken to the vet it was found that Gilley had a tumor on his heart which was causing fluid to collect around his organs which led to his death according to Captain Randy Deanda at the November 10th city council meeting.

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iecn photo/yazmin alvarez
Chewy, Rialto Police Departments Narcotics Unit K-9, enjoys a few belly rubs from children.

Last time we talked to Officer Anderson he told us that Gilley was on the older side of life and that his work days were almost to an end. So even though we knew he wouldn’t be here forever it makes us sad to see the time come at all. We will truly miss Gilley but now its time to help the foundation that makes our K9 program possible The Friend’s of Rialto K9 is a foundation that makes Rialto’s K9 program and you can help by donating to help because this will be the second dog they would had to have replaced in the last 12 months.

On a positive note our most recent K9 Officer/Canine team that have just been together as of July of 2015 won a 2nd place award at this last weekends K9 event hosted by Riverside Sheriffs department. Dane Stordahl & K9 Bunker were awarded 2nd place award for ‘article search’ during Saturday’s (11/07/15) Riverside Sheriffs K9 trial. In a statement released by Councilman Shawn O’Connell he gave praise to the Officer/K9 team:

It is amazing when you consider 61 dogs participated and you’ve only been partnered with Bunker since July 2015. On behalf of the City of Rialto, I appreciate the hard work and dedication you have shown this department and our city. The Rialto Police Department family should be very proud.