BATH

His last day on patrol in Sagadahoc County was uneventful as he made the rounds Wednesday, visiting the Sheriff ’s Department’s communications center and heading out on the road before signing off for the last time at 4 p.m.

Brix, the department’s 7-year-old police dog, was groomed by his veterinarian and looked handsome sporting a red, white and blue bandanna around his neck for his last day on the force.

The 84-pound German shepherd and Belgian Malinois mix is a July 2012 graduate of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. With his handler, Cpl. Ian Alexander, he has been certified for tracking and drug detection.

A handler for the department’s first K9, Rocko, Alexander is stepping down from that position after 14 years to work toward a promotion in the department. He said the program would continue, but someone else will be on the receiving end of 2 a.m. phone calls.

“Let’s let these young guys run around through the woods, let me sleep,” he joked. “But it was fun running through the woods, and there were days you get all muddy and you found someone. You don’t care if you’re muddy.

“I’ve always kept clean uniforms in the car for that,” Alexander added. “I guess I won’t have to anymore.”

His role has allowed him to go into schools to work with kids and find people who probably wouldn’t have been discovered without a dog.

A K9 officer is an expensive tool initially, Alexander said, but it builds strong community relationships and is worth the investment. And Brix has certainly had some memorable action during his time on duty.

In one instance, Alexander and Brix responded to a burglary at C&R Trading Post in Brunswick where a suspect had absconded with six handguns, before ditching them in a snowbank. The officers found the guns and some of the suspect’s blood, which helped lead to a conviction. In 2015, the pair tracked a home invasion suspect across the New Meadows River from West Bath to east Brunswick.

Brix is retiring a little early, but recently had an area of melanoma removed from his lip and has arthritis.

Alexander said he’s come to work the last couple days without Brix, and it’s been strange not hearing his partner bark at all the things he usually barks at.

Alexander expects Brix has clocked in around 16,000 patrol hours.

“I’ll be talking to myself,” he said.

Brix lives with Alexander and his family and will make a good pet now, Alexander said. He can also expect to get some extra cookies. Still retirement will probably take him some getting used to, since he’s loved going to work.

Alexander said suspects comply as soon as they hear the dog. So many times, he said, “he’s saved my ass.”

dmoore@timesrecord.com