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Officer Bartley and Police Service Dog Harko

Officer Bartley is the most seasoned BPD K9 handler and has served has coordinator of the K9 Unit since August, 2008. He was the first officer selected to handle a Police Service Dog (PSD) back in 1995 with Nero. Before that he served four years as a military police K9 officer in the US Air Force before joining the Bellevue Police Department in 1992. Officer Bartley was paired with Blitz in 2002 after Nero passed away. He teamed up with Rex in 2006, when Blitz was retired and Rex's previous handler left to serve another police department. When Rex retired in 2010, Bartley started working with PSD Harko. The two became a certified team in May of 2010. See the K9 memorial page for more information on Nero and Blitz.

PSD Rex is a 65-pound Belgian Malinois born in 2008. Officer Bartley said what he likes most about Harko is that becasue he's so young he's easy to train:

"Harko is a very young dog without a lot of experience. So everything is new to him and this makes training days more interesting as far as problem solving and seeing what we can get done with him. But overall a very good dog that will become stronger as time goes on. Once you show him what you want done, he catches on very quickly and he's eager to please his handler."

While Officer Bartley said Harko is still learning, he expects his strenth will be patrol work. He's very enthusiastic and "it's pretty much just a game - going out and chasing the agitators".