Mayor Mary Miller on July 7 administered the oath of office to Officer Mitchell Beaupre, who previously served two years with the Marysville Police Department and nine years in the U.S. Navy, and the council joined department staff in welcoming the department’s new dual-purpose canine, K9 Zeke.

Chief Floyd and Sergeant Clifford (the department’s canine coordinator) described K9 Zeke as a 2½-year-old German shepherd obtained from a California vendor and certified in patrol and narcotics detection. Officer Tyler Hatcher will serve as Zeke’s handler. Department staff said Zeke completed 400 hours of patrol training and 200 hours of narcotics detection training and was certified by the Washington State Police Canine Association and under the Washington Administrative Code.

Staff contrasted Zeke’s dual-purpose role with the department’s recently retired single-purpose narcotics canine, K9 T Bone, which served more than nine years, was deployed 1,275 times and assisted in seizures the department summarized in pounds for several drug types. Chief staff noted that patrol-capable K9s can track fleeing suspects, locate discarded evidence and help create space for de-escalation, and that canines are rarely used as a direct use-of-force tool.

Mayor Miller and council members attended a short ceremonial oath for the dog following the swearing of Officer Beaupre; the department said Zeke is available for deployments supporting Anacortes and neighboring communities.