About FlashAlert on Twitter:
FlashAlert utilizes the free service Twitter to distribute emergency text messages. While you are welcome to register your cell phone text message address directly into the FlashAlert system, we recommend that you simply "follow" the FlashAlert account for Deschutes County Sheriff's Office by clicking on the link below and logging in to (or creating) your free Twitter account. Twitter sends messages out exceptionally fast thanks to arrangements they have made with the cell phone companies.
Released by: Sergeant William Bailey
Occurred: December 11, 2017
NARRATIVE:
The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office is excited to announce our newest patrol K9 hit the streets of Central Oregon this morning. K9 Masa is an eighteen month old Czech-Shepard from Slovakia. Last week she successfully completed her certification training, making her and her handler Deputy Ben Bartness ready for patrol use this week.
Deputy Ben Bartness is a seven year veteran of the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office and has served in the positions of Field Law Enforcement Technician, Patrol Deputy, and Police Training Officer. Deputy Bartness is also a US Marine Corp veteran.
The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office has four K9 Teams that are assigned to the Patrol Division. There are three tracking and apprehension K9 teams and one narcotics detection K9 Team. K-9 teams are on-call 24 hours a day. The K-9 teams devote a significant amount of time to ongoing training. They train individually almost every day and train with other K-9 teams in Central Oregon on a weekly basis. Our K-9 teams also regularly assist other law enforcement agencies throughout Central Oregon. All of our K-9 teams are certified annually by the Oregon Police Canine Association (http://www.opca.com/home).
B Roll video footage of K9 Masa and Deputy Bartness can be located here : https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d40cjt1vxc656ng/AABQ5BHb1s39oM2TXCyaxRaIa?dl=0