Stanley Police Department Decides to Retire K9

Tuesday, December 9th, 2025 -- 10:00 AM

After much thought and reflection, the decision was recently made to retire Stanley Police Department K-9 Trey effective November 30th.

It is hard to believe that this journey started back in 2017, when they began navigating a largely unknown and new adventure with a K-9 program.  Through the hard work and dedication of an incredible group of community members that served on the fundraising team, they were able to raise all funds necessary to get this program started and set for the future success it would ultimately achieve.

For those who may not have followed this story over the years, Trey is a male German Shepherd and is the department's first ever K-9. He came to us in the summer of 2018 from the Czech Republic.

K-9 Trey and his handler, Officer Tyler Lewien, completed a 14-week training program through McDonough K9 in Minnesota. After completion of this training in the fall of 2018, K-9 Trey became certified as a dual-purpose police K-9 through the National Police Canine Association and the United States Police Canine Association.

They genuinely want to thank everyone that has supported the K-9 program throughout the years. Whether it was through a donation, a purchase at one of the local fundraising events, or with public support, none of that ever went unnoticed.

With the financial generosity of the donors through the years and with the salvage vehicle inspection program within the police department, they were proudly able to self-fund our program for the duration of K-9 Trey’s service.

Although they don’t have immediate plans for the introduction of a new K-9 within the department at this time, they are confident that, when the time is right, that they will be prepared to blaze a brand new path that will lead to new opportunities and memories along the way for another team.

As K-9 Trey nears his 9th birthday, they are ecstatic to report that he is entering retirement healthy and with lots of vitality.  Officer Lewien looks forward to rewarding his loyalty and unwavering dedication with a relaxing retirement at home with his family.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.