Jasper Police Department welcomes new officers, retires K-9 Mac after seven-year career

The Jasper Police Department welcomed three new officers to its ranks in January while preparing to retire its veteran K-9 officer Mac after seven years of distinguished service.

Austin Barkley, Alex Lawyer and Andrew “Bubba” Fleck joined the department. All three new officers began academy training in Evansville on January 19 and are scheduled to graduate on 22 May.

“They’re currently in their fourth week and are doing well,” Police Chief Chad Dick reported to the Board of Public Works and Safety at Tuesday’s meeting.

The department also opened applications for a dispatch position and received five completed packets. Officials plan to complete background investigations and interviews by the end of March 2026.

For the January report, Chief Dick reported the department handled 1,299 calls for service, worked 29 crashes, including four personal injury incidents, and made 37 criminal arrests. Officers issued 250 warnings and 44 traffic citations while making 294 traffic-related contacts.

The dispatch center handled 2,144 phone calls during the month, of which 543 were 911 emergency calls. The center processes approximately 38 percent of all calls for service in Dubois County, according to the chief.

“It’s not just police related calls those folks receive and deal with. It’s kind of the central hub, especially after hours when City Hall’s closed, where people call to get their resources,” he explained.

Winter storms affected call volumes, but Chief Dick said that the public heeded advice and stayed home during the severe weather. “The public did a great job at staying home. So I want to thank the public for listening to the information that was put out there and staying home,” the chief said.

Officers responded to several significant incidents during January, including a suspicious death investigation that required assistance from detectives and the state police crime scene unit. The responding officers requested additional assistance after identifying questionable aspects of the incident.

The chief praised the professionalism and thoroughness displayed by officers during the investigation. They are waiting on autopsy results, but the chief stated that at this point, the death didn’t appear to be caused by another person.

In another notable incident, officers Manson Poteet, Nolan Henke, Jhazz Bieker, and Daniele Moore responded to a possible heart attack call and performed life-saving measures, including CPR and AED shocks, until emergency medical services arrived. “Their quick actions saved that person’s life,” Chief Dick said.

The department’s detectives conducted one child forensic interview, 10 criminal interviews, opened four new criminal cases, initiated two new investigations involving children, and served five search warrants during January.

School resource officers documented 309 activities, made one arrest, handled one drug and alcohol violation, assisted with one K-9 deployment, addressed six stop arm violations, worked three vehicle crashes on school properties, conducted nine truancy visits, handled 28 juvenile complaints and provided 34 educational programs.

Chief Dick also asked the board to retire K-9 Mack effective Feb. 12.

“There’s a time that comes in both canines life and the handler’s life where this decision has to be made,” Chief Dick said.

Sergeant Duncan, Mack’s handler, submitted a retirement letter detailing the dog’s impressive career statistics.

“Mack’s direct involvement 165 people were arrested, nearly $1,000 was seized, three illegal handguns were seized and over 140 items per familiar were located,” Duncan wrote in his retirement letter.

Mack’s drug detection work resulted in significant seizures, including 18.5 pounds of marijuana, 1.31 kilograms of methamphetamine, 35.4 grams of cocaine, nine grams of cocaine, six grams of fentanyl, two grams of heroin and 412 illegal prescription pills.

The K-9 was deployed more than 30 times for patrol work, including tracking suspects, searching buildings for burglary suspects, and apprehending suspects at the end of pursuits. “To Mack’s frustration, every suspect surrendered once presented with the choice between being met by him or getting peacefully,” Duncan noted.

Chief Dick added that this was also the case in a recent pursuit.

“This was on show Friday when we had a pursuit here in town,” he said. “Mack was right there, and due to Mac’s barking that we talked about earlier, the suspect was apprehended without any further incident.”

Mack assisted agencies in Perry, Spencer, Orange, Crawford, and Pike counties, as well as all departments in Dubois County. The dog completed over 1,700 hours of training during his career.

Duncan thanked Jim and Pat Tyne for their generous donation that made Mack’s career possible, along with other donors, including Kenny Cox. He also acknowledged trainers John Holler and Don Cates from Top Dogs Police Academy in Evansville and Indiana State Police Sgt. Kendall Waters.

“Mack will now get to enjoy a life of leisure, barking at the mailman and finally being allowed to eat cheeseburgers. He was a great police dog and even a better partner,” Duncan wrote. “I know I’m going to miss him riding with me every day, but Mack has earned the right to retire from being a police canine.”

The board approved transferring ownership of Mack to Sergeant Duncan upon retirement.

The department plans to replace Mack with a new K-9 officer after evaluating interested officers. One officer has already expressed interest and will train with Officer Chambers and his K-9 Gator to understand the program’s requirements.

• In other business, the board approved the purchase of three new Dodge Durangos from Washington Chrysler for a total of $117,479, including remote start systems. The department will trade in two Dodge Chargers as part of the deal.

• The board also approved changing the title of the dispatch center supervisor from “chief telecommunicator” to “telecommunications supervisor” to better reflect the current role’s duties.

• The board also accepted a $5,000 grant from the Community Foundation to assist in the purchase of Class A uniforms for the Jasper Fire Department. According to City Attorney Renee Kabrick, the $5,000 will be used in addition to the $10,000 from the American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary, Sons of the American Legion, the American Legion Riders and the Southern Indiana Leathernecks to be added to $5,000 in unrestricted funds with the department to pay for the uniforms.