More than a hundred Rio Rancho residents, particularly children met a hero Tuesday. Hero, the K-9 that is.

Hero is a 4-year old German shepherd handled by Rio Rancho police officer Ken Willey. Officer Nick Onken joined the duo in a presentation at the Loma Colorado Main Library.

The trio presented a program on police dogs and dog safety in the auditorium. Hero demonstrated training, deployment and service. The officers also discussed how to behave safely around dogs. The highlight of the program was when Willey commanded Hero to capture a criminal, played by Onken.

Onken wore an arm-bite shield to prevent damage. Onken hid behind a bookcase in the library and Willey ordered Hero to capture the criminal. Onken, playing his part, refused to surrender and Hero immediately bit the arm shield and captured the make-believe bad guy. Capturing the bad guy is part of Hero’s normal routine. He has apprehended 44 suspects.

Hero also works to get drugs off the streets.

Willey said that Hero’s service is invaluable. He said Hero has assisted in taking a lot of drugs off the streets.

Willey estimates that in Hero’s 2-1/2 years of service, he has taken $30,000 of narcotics cash, 100 pounds of marijuana, a lot of methamphetamine and a little cocaine off the street.

Hero’s nose is 50,000 times as strong as humans’. To illustrate Hero’s olfactory senses, Willey said that when we walk into an Italian restaurant, we smell Italian food. Hero, however, can distinctly smell the tomatoes, vinegar, garlic and starch.

Even though Hero has an envious pedigree from Germany, he still must train and work hard to be successful.

Willey said he trains with Hero 10 hours a week with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department.

Hero was born in Frankfort, Germany, so he understands German. All of his commands except one are in German.

Willey said the English command is “stand still”.

When this command is used, often the criminal stands still and Hero gets off the suspect and guards him. Hero has captured several awards, including the Overall Top Dog Award in the Detection Category at the Southwest Regional Police K-9 Trials in December of 2007.

Hero, competing with Willey, defeated 26 other K-9s to win the honor.

The duo also won two first- place trophies in the Narcotics and Area Search category, and two third-place trophies for the Building Search and Apprehension categories. The crowd also got to hear from Rio Rancho Animal Control officer Kenny Maher.

Maher told the audience that if they see a stray animal, do not run and never look the animal straight in the eye. Maher also advised to pick up a stick and hold it out, but not swing it. He said this way, if the animal bites, he would bite the stick. With spring here, Maher said more animals would be coming out to the public. Some of the animals that people may encounter include coyotes, mountain lions, bears, porcupines, badgers, skunks and bobcats.

Maher said people should not challenge the animals, but don’t back down either.