Police K-9 Presentation and Demo at First Thursday Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 16, 2019

St. Helens, Ore. – The St. Helens Police Department will host a K-9 presentation for their monthly First Thursday community meeting in May. K-9 handlers and their police dogs from the St. Helens Police Department and Columbia County Sheriff’s Office will give a brief presentation on the use of police canines, provide demonstrations of the dogs at work, and allow attendees to meet the dogs up close. This community meeting will be held in the Columbia Center Auditorium, 375 S. 18th Street, on Thursday, May 2 at 7 p.m.

St. Helens Patrol Officer and K-9 Handler Jon Eggers will be at the First Thursday meeting with K-9 Ryder. Officer Eggers has worked for the St. Helens Police Department for 20 years. During that time, he has trained and worked with three police K-9s and served as the Department’s K-9 handler for approximately 14 years. K-9 Ryder is a four-year-old purebred German Shepherd that St. Helens acquired in August 2016. He is trained in tracking, suspect apprehension, and article searches.

Patrol Deputy Cody Pesio from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) will be at First Thursday with K-9 Lars. Deputy Pesio started work at CCSO in November 2017, and became certified as a team with K-9 Lars in November 2018. K-9 Lars is a five-year-old Belgian Malinois trained in human tracking, apprehension, and article searches.

First Thursday is a monthly community meeting with the St. Helens Police Department held on the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. A new topic is presented at each meeting by a police officer or police staff related to community safety, crime prevention, police services, or seasonal-specific safety information. After a brief presentation, participants have the opportunity to ask St. Helens officers questions, find out what’s happening in St. Helens neighborhoods, and discuss any topics of concern with fellow community members and police.

The goal of First Thursday is to bring the St. Helens community and local law enforcement together once a month for meaningful conversation about the community. The meetings are an opportunity to make connections in the community, not just between police officers and residents, but also between neighbors.

The vision of the St. Helens Police Department is to provide professional police services that will secure public trust and keep our neighborhoods safe and free of crime. Our mission is to work with all citizens to make our city a place where people live safely and to promote individual responsibility and community commitment. 

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For further information regarding the St. Helens Police Department’s First Thursday program, please contact Communications Officer Crystal Farnsworth at crystalf@ci.st-helens.or.us or 503-366-8215.

NOTE: K-9 Odin will no longer appear at this event due to his retirement from CCSO. A previous version of this press release said that K-9 Odin and his handler, Deputy Hibbs, would be at the May 2 meeting.