K9 Summit

Conway Police Department's K9, Summit, is a female Belgian Malinois who is partnered with Master Patrol Officer Morganne Sterl.  Summit is a dual-purpose police K9, who joined the department in August of 2020. The primary function of the Conway Police K9 Unit is to utilize the dog as a "locating tool,” whether it be for drugs or finding people. Some have estimated that a dog's smelling power is upwards of 10,000 times greater than a person's, which gives the dog a unique ability to detect odors that would go unnoticed by their human counterparts.

K9 Summit and Officer Sterl completed the Boston Police K9 Academy's Basic Patrol Handler's School in December of 2020 where they underwent 14 weeks of training together. K9 Summit is trained in tracking (for both suspects and missing or endangered persons), building searches, area searches, article searches, handler protection, and criminal apprehension. The K9 Unit is expected to maintain a high level of proficiency for their specialty and train a minimum of 16 hrs per month.

Upon acquiring K9 Summit, the Conway Police Department outfitted one of our Ford Taurus Interceptor sedans to accommodate the K9. The cruiser is equipped with a door-pop function, allowing Officer Sterl to deploy K9 Summit by use of a remote button in case of emergency. The cruiser is also equipped with a hot/cold alert function, which keeps track of things such as the kennel temperature, CO level, and battery voltage. In the event that any of those components are out of range, it sends a notification to the officer and begins to automatically correct itself to prevent injury to the K9.

The Conway Police Department was fortunate enough to acquire the funds to establish the K9 Unit through a grant from the Stanton Foundation. Along with the grant funds, the department is grateful for the support of local individuals and businesses that help to maintain our K9 program through donations. We have been fortunate to receive assistance with food, veterinary care, training, and equipment as needed for the K9. Continued donations to the K9 Unit have proven invaluable, and are greatly appreciated in order to help continue to fund the unit.