BLUEFIELD, W.Va. (WVVA) – An investment in surveillance for the city of Bluefield, West Virginia is paying off.
Thanks to city cameras and a police dog, suspects have been tracked down in connection with a shooting over the weekend. Bluefield K-9 patrol officer Tanner Beggs says police received a report of a gunshot last Saturday near the intersection of Bland Street and College Avenue.
When he arrived, two juvenile suspects fled on foot, he says. Only then were the officers able to determine their direction of travel using the city’s new traffic monitoring system.
“At this point, K-9 Maverick and I began tracking at the beginning of Hancock Street. After a short track up Hancock Street and through the cemetery, we were able to locate the two suspects at a residence on College Avenue,” Beggs said.
Beggs says a search warrant was served for the home in question and a weapon was recovered. Beggs says K-9 Maverick was able to track the couple for about 200 yards from start to finish.
He says Maverick is certified to track much further. Maverick is certified to follow a scent trail up to a quarter mile.
“We usually do tracking once a month. To keep up our training, we also do drug detection training once a month,” Beggs said.
The six-year-old German Shepherd is an immigrant of sorts. Maverick was born in Eastern Europe, in the Czech Republic, and began his training there.
Maverick is highly trained in tracking and drug detection, but he also knows how to arrest suspects. Beggs says that without Maverick and the cameras, the suspects might have gotten away with it.
At the very least, solving the crime committed would have been much more difficult.
“That’s a big advantage. We were able to use these city cameras that gave us the last known direction of movement, which was critical for our tracking dog,” Beggs said. “You have to have somewhere to start, and from there we were able to go straight to the house they had run into.”
Beggs says no one was injured in the shooting, and the people police believe are responsible for firing the weapon within city limits will face justice.
K-9 Maverick and Beggs have been patrolling the streets of Bluefield together for four years.
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