‘Get him to a safe place’: Citizens urge city to retire police K-9

Outrage sparks over controversy surrounding the city of Valley's police K-9.
By Maddie Augustine
Click here for updates on this story
VALLEY, Nebraska (KETV) — Outrage sparks over controversy surrounding the city of Valley’s police K-9. After months of personnel issues, K-9 Sonic was pulled from work and put in a Washington County training kennel.
In 2021, after nearly $44,000 in donations from citizens, the Valley Police Department officially began their K-9 program with the purchase of Sonic, a fully trained Belgian Malinois police service dog.
“Small town. We stick together. It’s what you try to do to make your community better and to see this kind of all fall apart,” Chris Jensen, Valley citizen, said. “Sonic was purchased by donations from the people in Valley who did a lot of fundraising. Many events down at the park to raise money for him.”
In August 2024, Sonic was pulled from duty and placed at Code 2 K-9 Services, the training facility that sold Sonic to the city.
“I was contacted by the mayor, Cindy Grove, who asked me to house Sonic,” Ed Van Buren, owner of Code 2 K-9 Services, said. “She said the second handler was being investigated and that it didn’t look good.”
Owner of Code 2 K-9 Services, Ed Van Buren, said he thought it would be a temporary stay, and since he trained Sonic, he said he knew he did not like kennel life.
“I am not a boarding kennel,” Van Buren said. “I am not set up to keep dogs for long periods of time. I knew if I didn’t take Sonic that she would probably have to put him in a commercial kennel, which would be worse.”
In December KETV Investigates sat down with Valley City Administrator, Cameron Gales we asked why the city chose to put Sonic in a kennel rather than with an officer while the personnel issue was being worked through.
“We were dealing with the personnel issue, and the personnel issue kind of dictated that we weren’t able to make any adaptations to the canine program or the canine placement,” Gales said.
Almost immediately after arriving at Code 2, Van Buren said Sonic started to develop kennel stress.
“I could see a lot of frustration,” Van Buren said. “A lot of distress built up in him. He would jam his nose through between the gate and post.”
Van Buren said Sonic began losing weight and even destroyed two gauntlet doors. Having trained hundreds of police dogs in nearly 15 years, Van Buren said he knew little could help Sonic’s kennel stress other than being put back to work.
“Sonic is, like I said, bred and trained to work, and for four months, he had to sit in an indoor, outdoor kennel. It’s a shame. It’s a travesty,” Van Buren said.
Upon learning about Sonic’s condition, citizens immediately started sharing their concerns.
“Our goal, I think, as citizens, is just to get him to a safe place, and that is retirement,” Jensen said.
Van Buren also said that in the four months Sonic was at Code 2, no one from the city or police department came out to check on him or work him.
Van Buren said he alerted the city to Sonic’s behavior and weight loss, and on Sept. 10, he sent a text message asking how much longer Sonic would need to stay at Code 2 and for payment for the damaged doors.
After multiple other text messages, on Dec. 1, Van Buren sent a message saying he had a new dog coming and Sonic needed to be picked up for good.
Upon picking Sonic up December weekend, the city said they were enraged to see the state of their police dog.
“There was certain things that was noticed,” Gales said. “Significant weight loss, some teeth and kind of gum issues, and the most severe, the severity of it was the weight loss. That was the cause for concern for us.”
Gales said they were not alerted to the extent of Sonic’s condition.
“We were updated briefly that he had lost some weight, but not to the extent of, of what we discovered once we picked him up,” Gales said.
Days after picking Sonic up, Mayor Cindy Grove released a statement sharing her disappointment and anger towards the situation. Within the statement she said once the personnel issue was handled, the city immediately took action to bring Sonic back and figure out a plan for him.
“Both Chief Martinez and I also put trust in the individual we originally purchased K-9 Officer Sonic from in assuming he would alert us to the seriousness of his weight loss and kennel-related injuries.”
In December, the city of Valley filed a formal complaint against Van Buren and Code 2 K-9 Services.
However, Van Buren said he doesn’t know what more he could have done.
“They knew exactly what was going on,” Van Buren said. “I had communicated with them.”
Since December, Gales said Sonic has been on desk duty and living with a Valley police officer.
“Sonic has a place, and we’re going to find the best place for him,” Gales said. “Someone that’s looking to do this for the long haul.”
In a city council meeting Tuesday, Gales said during his vet appointment on Dec. 9, Sonic weighed 56.5 pounds, on Jan. 14 he now weighs 72.6 pounds.
Gales presented two options to the city council. One would be to return Sonic to duty within the Valley police department as a narcotics dog and have him undergo a four months of training with a new handler. The second option was a conveyance option. Meaning the city would alert nearby agencies, within the state, that Sonic was available.
After much back and forth, the city council ultimately struck down both of those options and approved a new motion, 3-1. That motion is to retire Sonic and sell him back to his original handler for the price of $1.
That decision still needs to be formally approved by the city attorney.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.