Police Department announces K9 changes

Published on June 01, 2022

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Police Department has two changes to the K9 Unit to share with the community.

K9 Atos, who has served for eight years, retired on May 28. Atos was certified in explosives detection and patrol functions. During his career, Atos and his human partner Sgt. Jeff Dionne, performed approximately 200 sweeps of Van Andel Arena in advance of concerts and other large-scale events. The duo was also very busy during election campaign seasons, conducting sweeps in advance of local visits by multiple presidential candidates over the years. Atos was very friendly and attended many community events and demonstrations. “If you’ve seen one of our K9s at a neighborhood or school event, it was most likely Atos,” said Sgt. Dionne.

His nickname around the department was “Toasty” after a friend of Sgt. Dionne’s daughter misheard his name (pronounced “Ah-tos”) as “Hot Toast”. Upon retirement, ownership of Atos was transferred from the City of Grand Rapids to the Dionne family where he will enjoy retirement. “We are looking forward to having Atos as a family pet and relaxing his training and feeding requirements,” said Sgt. Dionne. “We plan on giving him lots of treats.”

Replacing Atos is K9 Rip who is teamed with Officer Jake Newton. Rip recently passed his certification in narcotics detection and patrol functions and began service on May 29. He is an 18-month-old Belgian Malinois. Funding for Rip came in part from the Grand Rapids Police Foundation which has a special fund to support K9s and their training.

“K9s are an important part of police work,” said Sgt. Tim Hoornstra who oversees the K9 Unit. “We appreciate the foundation’s support of these dogs to help keep our community safe.”