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Rhys, Daxton, and Arlo all gave nods to Mike and Nancy before turning their attention on Scott.
“Today we are doing a piece on the K9 officers. We are going to ask each of you questions about your service on the force and your dogs. We really want you to share information that you would want the public to know when coming into contact with a K9 officer. It’s a simple bit, nothing too in-depth,” Scott said.
Rhys nodded. This he could do. He could speak about being a K9 officer with his eyes closed. He reached down and patted Honor on the head. She glanced up at him with a question in her eyes, and he already knew what she wanted to know.
Do I get to chase him?
She loved the hunt and racing after perps. Her mouth slid into one of her silly grins. He gave her another good pet on the head with a quick scratch behind the ears.
“Sounds easy enough,” Arlo’s voice cut into Rhys’s thoughts.
“Yes, it is,” Nancy spoke up, coming to stand by Scott. Her dark hair was peppered with a few gray strands, and she was dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt that had the channel’s logo on it. She kept her clipboard pressed to her front. “We are spotlighting not only the K9 unit but others as well.”
“Oh, so we aren’t special?” Daxton arched an eyebrow.
“Of course you are!” Nancy sputtered. She became slightly flustered, obviously not recognizing Daxton being facetious. Daxton did have a dry sense of humor to him.
Rhys smirked and shook his head.
“We are doing an exposé on the city’s police officers to help with community engagement.”
“I’m just messing with you.” Daxton grinned.
Nancy became even more flustered. Daxton did have a way with women. From what Rhys recalled, the man had never been married and was single. It didn’t matter if the women were old or young, they all reacted the same way.
“Oh, okay.” Nancy’s cheeks were bright red.
Rhys decided to put her out of her misery. He might as well take the lead and get this shit over with.
“I’ll go first. What questions do you want to ask?” Rhys said.
Nancy pulled her clipboard away from her chest and glanced down at it.
“Since you are the last to arrive, I’m going to assume you are Officer Newman?” she asked before looking up at him.
“That I am, and this is Officer Honor,” he introduced.
Honor perked up at the sound of her name.
“She’s a beauty,” Nancy said.
Honor stood to her feet at the compliment. He tightened his grip on the leash, giving it a slight tug. It was a natural reaction on his part. He wanted to remind Honor to stay at his side.
Nancy motioned to the open area near the playground. “We can go over there. Mike is going to make sure the sun isn’t in the shot.”
“The questions will be simple,” Scott said. “I’ll ask you to introduce yourself, how long you’ve been a cop, and working with the K9 team. Then you can tell us a little about Officer Honor, her specialties, and something that you would want the public to know when they come into contact with a police dog.”
There was plenty of information that Rhys could share. This was a common question that they received even from fellow officers. Safety was a first when it came to having dogs involved. It was common knowledge for the K9 officer to always run point when on the scene. If a perp took off and ran, the dog would be commanded to take them down. If a cop was running after the bad guy, the dog wouldn’t know the difference between cop and bad guy.
Occasionally, a young, stupid cop wouldn’t heed the instructions and would learn the hard way. A couple of times a year there would be word of an accident involving K9 officer. They had been lucky there hadn’t been any serious incidents. Most times it was the human officer who had to be reprimanded for not following field policy and procedures.
“Let me know when you are ready,” Rhys replied.
He tugged on Honor’s leash and guided her away a little so she could do her business. She sniffed around for a moment before she found a good spot to urinate. Daxton and Arlo must have thought of the same. They each had moved away to allow Hawk and Kimbo to take care of their business, too.
Minutes later, Rhys and Honor were positioned with Scott standing next to them. Rhys hated cameras, but he would do this because he did love his job and talking about Honor. She thrived under the attention.
“We have Officer Rhys Newman of the Columbia Police Department K9 Unit,” Scott began talking to the camera. He went into an introduction of the segment they were filming.
