LAW ENFORCEMENT IN SOUTHERN UTAH LEFT MOURNING LOCAL HERO
By: Sachet A. Sullivan
Webster’s Dictionary defines a hero as “a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.” What it doesn’t mention, is that they often have four legs.
This definition accurately fits local hero, Iron County Sheriff K-9 Bolos, who passed away early last week.
Bolos was 12 years old at the time of his death and served the department for five years before arthritis ultimately led him into retirement in May, 2020.
Peterson said it isn’t uncommon for police dogs to get arthritis because “they’re hard on their hips, especially doing the patrol work and jumping over things.”
“Bolos could jump over anything, he was a jumper, he could jump high,” he said. “In fact, we’d put people in inaccessible areas because one of the certifications is high and inaccessible and when they were selecting spots to do that, they had to make sure he couldn’t reach them because he always seemed to be able to get up and get people.”
Peterson said police K-9s often deteriorate after they quit working.
“These dogs live to work and when you take that away, you kind of take their purpose away,” Peterson said.
While Bolos was a little older than the average police dog when he began training, he never let his age stop him from keeping up with the younger dogs.
Bolos still holds the record for the most apprehensions in Iron County.
(K9 Bolos preforms a bite apprehension on decoy Brandon Kennedy).
In 2015, when Bolos began his training, he was considered an “odd man out” due to him being a little older than most dogs who, at the time, typically started training at about the age of two.
With Bolos starting his training at three and a half, he would now be considered an older dog.
“We’re now seeing them start as young as 13 or 14 months old” said Peterson.
Police K-9s are well-known for drug seizures and suspect apprehensions, but their valor in less recognized roles often goes unnoticed.
Bolos often demonstrated acts of heroism, but nothing shows this more than when he assisted Iron County law enforcement in helping two young girls escape captivity from their family’s religious cult in Lund.
The family hid the two little girls in water barrels located on the family’s property in the middle of the desert, west of Cedar City. The girls had been left alone in sub-freezing temperatures, with nothing to eat, only a little water and a loaded handgun next to the water barrels they were being kept in.
When authorities found the girls, they were cold, hungry and afraid, with one of them refusing to come out. It wasn’t until the other little girl told her friend that they had a dog that the girl felt comfortable enough to come out of the barrels and speak with authorities.
Police K-9s can often be very intimidating to the average citizen. But in this instance, Bolos’ presence actually helped lift the girl’s fear in a way that prompted her to come out from hiding.
In another heroic situation, Peterson recalls a criminal suspect who had fled from police and buried a handgun in the desert. Unaware of Bolos’ keen sense of smell, the suspect reportedly told detectives they would never be able to find it.
Once they set up a track, it didn’t take Peterson and Bolos very long for the K9’s senses to find the gun and prevent it from getting in the wrong hands.
This wasn’t an isolated event though. There were many other times when Bolos was able to successfully find firearms for law enforcement.
In another successful apprehension, officials were on a manhunt for a suspect who had taken off with a gun.
Peterson said that he and Bolos started an area search, when Bolos began to indicate on the suspect, a term K9 handlers use to describe a dog sniffing a suspect or his track.
As they got closer, Peterson stated he and another deputy began to “circle around and kind of flank the guy”, which Peterson describes as “coming at the suspect from a side rather than a direct approach”.
Ultimately, using this technique and Bolos’ extraordinary senses, the suspect surrendered himself to authorities without a shot fired.
Later, in an interview with Peterson, the suspect told him his plan was to shoot the dog and then shoot me.
But because of Bolos’ senses and endless hours of training, he was able to save Peterson’s life as well as his own.
Several Facebook posts from the ICSO have recognized Bolos many times throughout his career for helping authorities find and seize numerous other guns and hundreds of pounds of narcotics.
In one post, Bolos and Peterson, a Corporal at the time, were congratulated for assisting Utah Highway Patrol in securing a stolen gun, two kilos of cocaine, a small amount of crack and 1000 OxyContin Pills.
For a police dog to be certified as dual-purpose, meaning they’re used in both drug searches and for the apprehension of criminal suspects, he must complete a combined 16 weeks of training with his handler. Eight of these are dedicated to train them on drugs and the other eight on apprehension.
Although Bolos served as a dual-purpose dog and had a keen ability for hitting on narcotics, Sgt. Peterson stated Bolos “liked to go and find people, that was definitely his natural inclination”.
While most police dogs in the area serve as dual-purpose dogs, Peterson said they will generally have a natural pull towards one or the other. For Bolos it was apprehension.
Bolos’ love for finding people was demonstrated one night when he helped law enforcement find and apprehend a suspect who was fleeing police on a high-speed chase. The incident involved a four-hour manhunt that called in six different agencies to assist.
Thanks to Bolos, authorities were successfully able to locate and apprehend the suspect who was later charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, two counts of fugitive from justice and felony evading, property damage, reckless driving and excessive speed.
The loss of Bolos has been difficult for Peterson who said that during his dog’s tenure the two often spent more time together than Peterson did with his own family.
“It was hard. I mean he’s been my family’s pet for the last four years and he’s grown up with my kids, so my kids don’t know life without him,” he said.
Peterson said his kids were sad but having a chance to say goodbye to Bolos helped with closure.
Law enforcement in Iron County aren’t the only ones left mourning the loss of Bolos. Many agencies from surrounding areas that worked with Bolos over the years, were also shaken by his passing.
The St George Police Department (STGPD) issued a public statement about the loss of Bolos.
“We are saddened to hear that retired K-9 Bolos passed away this week” adding “he will be missed for he is a true warrior dog,” the statement read.
The statement also credited Bolos with “over 2,850 recorded training hours, five-bite apprehensions, dozens of non-bite apprehensions, several jail deployments and over 300 street deployments” adding that “he helped seize hundreds of pounds of meth, heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, marijuana and mushrooms” during the course of his career.
K-9 Bolos passed away in the home of his best friend, partner and handler on September 17th, 2024. He will be missed dearly by all those he served next to and the many others he protected. He will be remembered and honored throughout the years as a local hero.
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