NEWS RELEASE                                             

For Immediate Release
May 29, 2008
Contact: Michele Nicholson
Public Information Officer
  (850) 651-7420

OCSO K-9 TEAM WINS NATIONAL AWARD 


Deputy Jim Duval and K-9 "Tyson"

        A Deputy with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and his K-9 partner have been awarded the “Top Detector Case of the Year” for 2007 by the United States Police Canine Association.

        Deputy Jim Duval and K-9 “Tyson” were recognized by the national organization for their work on a narcotics bust April 2, 2007. The team was called to the corner of Sullivan and Audrey Streets by the Fort Walton Beach Police Department’s Street Crimes Unit, which had pulled over a suspicious work truck.

       In the back of the truck was a lot of industrial machinery that made it difficult for K-9 Tyson to pinpoint the source of the drug odor, but Deputy Duval says the dog’s actions left no doubt there were drugs in the truck.

      Investigators were able to take the vehicle to the impound yard. A thorough search turned up 52 kilos of cocaine and 480 pounds of marijuana, one of the largest narcotics seizures ever along the Emerald Coast.

     At a news conference Thursday, Sheriff Charlie Morris praised Deputy Duval and K-9 Tyson for their work in helping take the massive amount of narcotics off the streets. Fort Walton Beach Police Chief Ted Litschauer called the case a prime example of how the good working relationship between the two agencies reaps crime-fighting benefits.

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