13-05-2025
Beaufort County Community College celebrates second Patrol K-9 graduates
WASHINGTON, N.C. (WNCT) — The Beaufort County Community College celebrated the graduation of its second Patrol K-9 class on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
K-9s in order from left to right: Corporal Scott Gashi and K9 Shadow, Officer Christopher Fortune and K9 Atlas, Deputy Joshua Jones and K9 Rocky, Deputy Hayden Green and K9 Bruer, and Officer Franklin Blanton and K9 Kapi.
Officers in order from left to right: Officer Christopher Fortune, Deputy Joshua Jones, Corporal Scott Gashi, instructor Ken Mathias, Deputy Hayden Green, and Officer Franklin Blanton.
The officers graduating represents the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, Haywood County Sheriff's Department, North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections, and Savannah Police Department. They completed a 14-week program, accumulating 540 hours of specialized training, which included obedience training, drug detection, suspect apprehension, and both daytime and nighttime search and rescue techniques.
Beaufort CCC is only one of a few colleges in Eastern N.C. to offer this program.
The Patrol K-9 program aids law enforcement agencies in finding missing persons or suspects using highly trained canine units. The Director of law enforcement programs at Beaufort CCC, Cliff Hales, said that the college developed the program to help trainees earn college credit for the extensive hours they invest in training.
Deputy Joshua Jones gave remarks on behalf of the graduating class, and Mathias, along with last year's Gold Collar Award recipient, Greg Van Essendelft, presented Officer Christopher Fortune with this year's Gold Collar Award for his hard work and positive attitude.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
