Riverview K-9 Blue honored upon his retirement

By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers

RIVERVIEW – K-9 Blue was honored for his seven years of service during the Aug. 17 city council meeting. 

K-9 Blue, who worked with Detective Sergeant Bruce Herrick, served the police department from 2019 to 2026, enhancing public safety and serving as an ambassador at many public events with his friendly demeanor. 

Herrick said that K-9 Blue is trained in criminal apprehension, handler protection, obedience, tracking, and narcotics detection. 

K-9 Blue was one of the first K-9 officers that was not trained to detect marijuana. 

Herrick said one of their first assignments was to track a juvenile who was suicidal, and they were able to track him down to a set of train tracks in a neighboring community, and police officers from that community were able to find him and get him the help that he needed.

“That was one of the first experiences that I had with him, learning how to trust him, for him to tell me where somebody was at, so that was one of my favorites,” he said. “Seeing a person get some help.”

Herrick said he also likes interacting with the community with K-9 Blue at his side.

“We’ve been to the schools, community events, because it’s a really great community here in Riverview,” he said. “We didn’t get a bite of a suspect during our career, but that’s OK because it means we got a pretty good community here.”

Herrick said community outreach was one of his favorite parts of the job.

He said K-9 Blue’s approachability is one of his finest qualities. 

“Being able to interact with the public,” Herrick said. “Working dogs are high-strung, and he is too – he’s got a lot of energy – but being able to get out there in the community and get pet by kids, community members come up and interact with him, it’s really good.”

K-9 Blue will spend his retirement with Det. Sgt. Herrick and his wife, Amanda, and sons Elijah, 9, and Uriah, 12, at their home in Grosse Ile Township.