While Salem’s first K-9 officer Simon isn’t formally set to retire until December, his handler Sgt. Mike Garber said that his retirement has effectively already begun following the certification of his successor K-9 Chaz on Nov. 1. Simon will remain with Garber during his retirement and has already begun to enjoy his post-retirement life, with Garber noting that he has already entered “full couch potato mode.” He said the next chapter of Simon’s life would be spent enjoying all the things he wasn’t allowed to do while working for the department. (Submitted photo courtesy Mike Garber.)
SALEM — With his successor officially sworn in and serving the community, Sgt. Mike Garber reflects on the career of K-9 Simon, Salem’s first K-9 officer, and Garber’s first K-9 partner.
While his official retirement isn’t expected until Dec. 3, Garber said that Simon is already effectively in retirement following the certification of his successor K-9 Chaz, who has been on the road with Garber since Nov. 1. Simon will be staying with Garber in his retirement as a pet now that his professional career is over, with Garber joking that Simon was already “in full couch potato mode.”
“You build quite a bond with these dogs, they really become part of your family and there’s no way I’d ever give Simon up,” said Garber.
Garber said that while Simon being forced into early retirement by the legalization of recreational cannabis in Ohio was disappointing, he is looking forward to their next chapter.
“It’s been an amazing ride and I’m sad to see it come to an end. The only consolation is the knowledge that I gave him the best professional life possible and he worked to his full potential; and now I get to hang out with him at home and do all the things he couldn’t do while he was working,” said Garber.
Simon has been a force multiplier for the department since his very first day with the department in August of 2016 when he had a felony drug seizure, and in November of that year had what went on to be the largest bust of his career which resulted in a published federal case which saw the criminal receive 23 years in federal prison for possession of a firearm and over 80 grams of cocaine, over 30 grams of heroin, and marijuana. Over his eight-year career Simon has had over 1000 deployments for narcotic and patrol related investigations, and in the last three years alone has taken roughly two kilograms of methamphetamines off the street.
“With the amount of fentanyl and heroin Simon has taken off the streets he’s probably saved thousands of lives, and that goes beyond the initial stop to the warrants and cases that are built from the evidence he’s let us gather, and I feel that really demonstrates the value of these K-9s to our community,” said Garber.
Garber said that Simon’s deployment record was higher than most K-9s due to a high volume of requests from other departments prior to the foundation of K-9 units by other law enforcement agencies in the area like the Columbiana Police Department, or the Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office, noting that most K-9s retire after 500 deployments.
“Usually there’s a slowdown towards the end but Simon was always raring to go. When he came out of the car, he was a ball of fire and that’s part of what’s so unfortunate about having to go into retirement early,” said Garber.
Those early career successes led to Simon’s appearance on America’s Top Dog in 2019, which Garber said was a “an amazing experience,” getting to fly with Simon to Los Angeles, where Simon’s performance with unfamiliar obstacles “surpassed all [his] expectations” winning the first two rounds of the competition before ultimately coming up short in the final round. Garber said that during that round Simon saw the decoy in the third round and “in typical Simon fashion once he saw him all he cared about was getting the bad guy.”
“It goes to show Simon was never perfect, but he was [the department’s] first dog, and he was my first dog and to me he will always be the best dog,” said Garber.
Garber said that he felt Simon’s strong performance “created an opportunity for the department to see the value of K-9s, and through that helped other agencies see the value of having K-9s in their community.”
Garber also said he is thankful for the support he received when the K-9 unit was originally being planned, noting that when it was formed, he was able to draw on the experience and ideas of existing K-9 units in Columbiana and Mahoning counties.
“We were able to steal the best ideas from everyone and people say we have that Cadillac of K-9 units,” said Garber.
Garber attributed the ability to make such a well-regarded unit to the collaboration he received from Police Chief J.T. Panezott, then-Mayor John Berlin, and Melissa Costa, and their dedication to ensuring the unit was as good as possible, and the overwhelming community support the K-9 unit received and has continued to receive. Garber said that Costa had been an especially important collaborator assisting with networking, and building the K-9 unit’s website, noting that “it would have been impossible to do all that we did without her.”
“I can’t thank everyone enough for their support, we’ve been very fortunate to have so much support and so much help. To thank all of our supporters individually would literally take all day,” said Garber.
mahart@mojonews.com