TUCSON, Ariz. — Two of our local police departments are now one year into have two new assets, who are already making powerful impacts on our community. They're also really embodying the spirit of southern Arizona, or rather, "Ari - Zona."
It's hard not to smile the second you meet Ari, the 3-year-old yellow lab, which makes sense. That's her job, uplifting the employees at the Oro Valley Police Department as their wellness dog.
"They'll light up a little bit when she comes in, so I think she's making a big difference in department," said her handler, the Public Information Officer for Oro Valley Police, Darren Wright.
Every day, he takes her through the police station, going from records to dispatch, where the work can be especially daunting.
Ari actually failed drug dog school because she liked people too much, but everything worked out. Now, they visit schools and do other events, and Ari is there when our community needs her.
"If we have the victim of a violent crime or something like that," Wright explained, "being interviewed after a crime like that is very difficult, mentally and stress-wise, so we can bring her in, they can kind of pet her and get through that traumatic situation a little better."
Because of her special sense, Ari always knows who needs the support.
"We've had the unfortunate situation where a student has passed away at a local school, twice this past year," Wright said, "and they asked us to come in and help the students through that grief. And she's really good at that."
An Oro Valley Police lieutenant was the one who named her Ari, based on the first part of Arizona.
And where we live, what would Ari be without Zona?
"So she got the name Zona because she was the first in the state of Arizona to do electronic detection work," explained Gayle Warren, a digital forensic examiner with Tucson Police.
She's the handler for Zona, a 3-year-old English lab, who sniffs out electronics for the police department.
"So while on the day to day I'm here analyzing digital evidence from cell phones and surveillance video, Zona is locating for us on a weekly basis electronic devices," Warren said.
Zona is trained to smell a chemical used in technology manufacturing, and she mostly looks for things like hard drives, often with photos of unthinkable crimes.
"Sometimes it's going to Internet Crimes Against Children scenes, and sometimes we're looking at tracking devices in people's cars, or hidden cameras potentially," Warren said. "If you think of anything electronic, there's a whole list of things that we could search for."
Turns out, Zona actually failed out of service dog school, because her drive was too strong, but that worked out too.
In the 80 crime scenes she's been to, she's found hidden electronics at all but one. In five cases, she's also found the key evidence police needed.
Because of her service dog experience and demeanor, Zona also does public events.
That's what brought Ari and Zona together.
"We thought it was great because it's the Arizona dogs," Warren said. "They got along as soon as they met each other. They've always just been happy to be around each other. "
Bonding over their love of tennis balls and helping our community, these two are making a difference, each in their own way.
"They know instinctually when someone needs it, they're gonna go be there for us," Warren said.
While Tucson Police have a wellness K9, like Ari, electronic detection K9s like Zona are more unusual. There's only one other one in the state, working in northern Arizona.
Because of that, Zona sometimes helps other police departments with investigations, like Oro Valley Police.
"They'll go on a call together someday," Warren said.
"I'm sure they will," Wright agreed.
Claire Graham is an anchor and reporter for KGUN 9. She grew up in Tucson and graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in musical theatre. Claire spent a decade in Washington state, where she worked in journalism, met her husband and welcomed their baby boy, before moving back home. Share your story ideas and important issues with Claire by emailing claire.graham@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
