A large crowd gathered at the RCMP headquarters in St. John’s on Friday afternoon, equipped with presents and cake to celebrate the retirement of a special member of the Canadian police force — Luke, the specialty narcotics dog.
Luke was a two-year-old a stray found wandering the streets of St. John’s when he was brought to Humane Services in 2007. After some time went by when he wasn’t adopted, Human Services City of St. John’s manager Cindy McGrath recommended him to Staff Sergeant Don Bill who would come by regularly to look at dogs.
Bill took Luke on the spot. Adult dogs are rarely taken in the police force, but Luke was an exception. The two were partners until 2012. Luke has since been partnered with Cpl. Mike Pilgrim. Luke has served the RCMP for nine years, earning the respect of all who have worked with him.
“Some people say animals from humane services or shelters are adopted or they’re rescued, but I think it’s safe to say in Luke’s case he was recruited,” said St. John’s Coun. Jamie Korab at Luke’s retirement party.
Luke completed the 11-week Narcotic Detection Dog Training program in only three weeks.
“I was the slow one,” says Pilgrim, who did an additional 10-week training program with Luke when they became partners.
Luke’s retirement is bitter-sweet for Pilgrim, for whom Luke is the first and last service dog.
“He’s more than just a dog to me, he’s my partner. We’ve done everything together from looking for drugs, to walks, sleep-outs, everything,” Pilgrim said.
“On one case alone he was responsible for the seizure of $1.3 million in cash leaving St. John’s to the mainland,” said Pilgrim.
At different traffic stop, Luke found 70 pounds of marijuana and several kilograms of cocaine that were packaged in three layers of Ziploc bags with Vaseline and cayenne pepper hidden in the trunk of a car.
“Luke does a lot for the RCMP and the people who work with him,” said Assistant Commissioner Peter Clark, Commanding Officer of the RCMP in Newfoundland and Labrador. Luke has sniffed out more than $5 million in drugs and tainted cash over the course of his tenure.
Unlike German shepherds who are trained in wide variety of disciplines, including narcotics, Luke was a specialty dog trained solely in the detection of seven different types of narcotics: cocaine, meth, ecstasy, marijuana, hashish, mushrooms and heroine.
“Our police dogs are a very important part of the force,” says Cpl. Jolene Garland. There are currently five police dog services teams active in the province located in Happy Valley Goose Bay, Stephenville, Grand Falls-Windsor, Bay Roberts, and Holyrood. Police dogs are used as locating tools for discovering evidence, missing persons, and apprehending criminals.
Luke’s retirement comes not as a result of age, but instead due to the new legislation legalizing marijuana, which compromises the position of specialty narcotics dogs across the country who can’t be untrained from marijuana detection. Thus none of them will remain active.
“Luke’s a lovable dog, he’s very temperamental, he’s soft — if you could say — spoken for a dog … he’s energetic, easy going,” Pilgrim said of his former partner, “Just someone you can hug, squeeze yell at, and he’ll just look at you with those eyes and say, ‘It’s alright, Dad.’”
Luke is being adopted by another member of the RCMP and will be staying in the St. John’s area where he looks forward to long walks, playing fetch, and eating his favourite treat — Beggin’ Strips — with his new family.
Pilgrim feels this is in Luke’s best interest.
Among those gathered to send Luke off to his new life of leisure was nine-week-old puppy Lukas, recruited two weeks ago as part of the next generation of police dogs.
“Luke leaves behind big paw prints to fill, for sure, but we do know that the talented dogs that we do have currently in our police dog services will carry on their hard work,” Garland said.
“Luke is a strong reminder to all of us to never discount the ability of the underdog,” Garland concluded.
