2 K-9 officers retire from the Goose Creek Police Department

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCBD) – The Goose Creek Police Department held a retirement celebration for two of its K-9 officers on Thursday while welcoming in four new paws of the law.

One of the K-9s, Gracie, was not well taken care of by a police department in New York state, she even weighed less than 60 pounds. She has thrived since arriving to assist law enforcement at the Goose Creek Police Department in 2019.

“Gracie has been the first canine I’ve had. I was lucky enough to pick her up and rehabilitate her and put her back in the service after she ran down in her luck a little bit,” said Cpl. Kristine Nolan with Goose Creek PD.

Cpl. Nolan said having K-9 Gracie by her side has been a blessing. “She’s taught me everything I know about being a K-9 handler,” she said.

Nolan recalled a police chase in Goose Creek where Gracie noticed a passenger leaving a vehicle even though officers had only noticed a driver escaping.

“Gracie continued to run that track. She located the passenger of the vehicle, and the other person ran into the perimeter we had set up, so she did really good with finding both parties and making sure that they were both found, and did her job, as she always did.”

K-9 Dax also retired on Thursday, complete with the last radio transmission in their honor.

Cpl. Nolan will now be patrolling with a new K-9, Nuke, who was one of four dogs sworn into service Thursday.

The other K9s sworn in were Maverick, Solo and Goose. Each made a pledge of service to Chief LJ Roscoe before signing their paperwork to make it all official.

Gracie has already been training Nuke, her replacement. “She rode in the car with Gracie from eight weeks old until now, so she has grown up and learned a lot of Gracie’s habits, so there’s a lot of things I can’t teach a dog that Gracie was able to teach the puppy and really bring her up to speed faster,” said Cpl. Nolan.

As for Gracie… she will now spend her retirement again with Nolan… but now as a farm dog.

“She’s gonna get a little bit more couch time, a little bit more treats, and get to enjoy her life as much as she can,” Cpl. Nolan said.

Chief Roscoe said they decided to have these ceremonies Pet Supplies Plus because they provide all of the food for K-9s at police departments across the tri-county, retired and active, at no cost.