Tomi (Tommy) is a retired Delaware State Trooper K9 who's "exploits are legendary" and his accolades merely touch the surface of his achievements. Tomi is a German Shepherd born in the Netherlands on January 25, 2012. A short time later, Tomi was put on a plane destined for the United States with one purpose, to become an American Police Officer. 

 

In March 2013, Tomi was tested and selected to join the Delaware State Police K-9 Academy as my partner. I met Tomi for the first time when I picked him up at DSP HQ K9. As I approached the kennel, the 43 pounds Shepherd was spinning in circles. He’d whip a spin, stop and snap his snout in a bark. This repeated over and over and was the beginning of our relationship. 

 

I took Tomi home and we started our "bonding period" together. This was the time the handler and K9 got to "know each other" which ultimately meant, "Let's play who's the boss". While our first few days felt like a mix of a "Western Standoff and playing chicken, we both ended up with respect for each other. This process repeated for the next month.  

 

In April 2013, Tomi and I began the several-month-long DSP Patrol K-9 training program which consisted of daily obedience, navigating obstacle courses, handler protection, tracking, building searches, area searches, crowd control, bite, and no bite apprehensions, courage tests with gunfire, deployments from his patrol car, boat and helicopter, and more. Throughout this time, Tomi and I learned to work together as a team and trust each other, because once we hit the street, our lives were in each other's hands or paws. We passed all state testing and graduated before moving on to the Narcotic Canine Detection training which was another few months. 

 

After graduating from that, Tomi and I were assigned to a patrol troop in New Castle County. This is where I wanted to be with a K-9. More action and more violent crime. That was the purpose of having a K9. To go in the most violent, dangerous, unforgiving circumstances when human officers were not equipped or up to the task. 

 

Unfortunately about 80% of police K-9 units are considered non-essential so they rely on donations to function and obtain ballistic vests. This was the case for us as well so Tomi was initially on the street without protection. Fortunately, a local church group donated funds for a ballistic vest for Tomi a short time later. 

 

There are so many things I can say about Tomi and with all bias aside, I can say that he is one of the most accomplished, respected, and resolute K-9s in the history of the Delaware State Police. Tomi's street cred was earned through his stoic and determined performance and he was personally requested throughout our career from other Troop jurisdictions and local police agencies to assist with various situations. There are many amazing K9 Teams but Officers knew that if K9-2 was on the call board, he was their "guy". 

 

I credit Tomi with saving my life twice in the line of duty so I’ll share the short version. 

 

While on patrol one night, I responded to a local convenience store/gas station for a report of a male making music videos on his bicycle while carrying a gun. As luck would have it, I located the suspect, jumped out of my patrol car and yelled for the suspect to stop. Naturally, the suspect looked at me and took off on the bike. I deployed K-9 Tomi as I chased after the suspect, using my remote K9 door popper. 
 

As Tomi closed in, the Suspect turned towards me and pointed a small black handgun in my direction. At the same time, Tomi caught up and jumped into the suspect causing him to lose balance and wobble. Tomi spun off and the suspect regained control and continued away. I was too far away for an accurate shot. Tomi began running after the suspect again. We lost the suspect after entering a  neighborhood but found the bike. We never did find him but we did locate the handgun magazine in the parking lot where Tomi had jumped into the suspect. If Tomi had not taken such action, the Suspect likely would have shot at me. 

 

In another incident, Tomi and I were called to assist Troopers at a burglary in progress at a commercial building on a very hot summer day. Two K9 teams cleared every floor. When Tomi and I reached the top floor, Tomi changed his sniffing pattern, pulling me to an exit door that led to the roof. As Tomi and I walked out onto the roof, and continued towards a tall structure, a male suspect swung his arm around the corner towards my face with a screwdriver in hand. As I moved to the side, Tomi jumped up and caught the suspect's wrist in his mouth, stopping the attack dead in its tracks. Tomi pulled the suspect from the ladder and dragged him across the roof for several feet before stopping. The suspect was ultimately handcuffed and arrested. 

 

The injury that lead to Tomi's retirement. In January 2019, I was working night shift when I assisted a disabled vehicle stopped in the right travel lane of a 2 lane highway. It was dark out and the street lights were on. I stopped behind the vehicle and activated my rear emergency lights. As I exited my vehicle, Tomi remained secure in his kennel area of the patrol vehicle, as usual. There was not a single vehicle in sight. As I spoke to the disabled vehicle occupants, all I heard was the sound of tires rotating on the road asphalt. I turned and looked to the Westbound lane and observed a single suv approaching towards us. It was moving very fast, not slowing down, with no lights on and not moving over. I began running to my patrol vehicle and before I knew it, the vehicle crashed into the rear end of my patrol vehicle without slowing down. It happened so fast that I had no time to get Tomi out. I also knew that if I had popped the K9 door and called Tomi to me, he would jump out and chance being hit straight on. 

 

The rear end of my tahoe was crushed in so bad that I had to pry the K9 door open to get Tomi out. The kennel top and roof of the tahoe had about 5-6 inches of space between them but with the impact, the kennel top bent the roof of the tahoe outward about 3 inches. I carried Tomi out of my vehicle to the roadside and began treating him for injuries. 

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Troopers and First Responders quickly arrived on scene, shutdown the highway and began treating the operator of the striking vehicle. Shockingly….she was intoxicated. One of my shift mates didn’t hesitate in transporting Tomi and I to the local emergency vet hospital. Shortly after arriving, Tomi collapsed on the floor. Emergency staff rushed Tomi to the treatment area and said that his adrenaline had dumped causing him to pass out. I can't explain what I was feeling at that moment but I am thankful that my father-in-law "Pops" was there for support. Tomi stayed overnight for observation. Early the next morning, I received a phone call from the Vet Doctor who said that Tomi was experiencing neurological issues and would need to be transported to the Pennsylvania Vet Hospital for treatment by specialists. Tomi and I were airlifted by Delaware State Police Helicopter to Pennsylvania Vet Hospital. Now, I had been on helicopters several times but the DSP Pilot did an amazing job flying us and landing on the top of a building which was surrounded by three other buildings in high wind. She was pretty awesome.  

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An ambulance crew was waiting for us with a stretcher on the roof top. The crew loaded Tomi and escorted us to ground level straight into an ambulance which transported us to the Penn Vet Hospital under police escort. I had never experienced such treatment before. As soon as we arrived at the hospital, the Charge Nurse immediately took Tomi into the back. Now here is the crazy thing. The Nurse informed me that they needed to get Tomi to "Neuro" but the Neuro Surgeon had just left. At that moment, a gentleman approached the Charge Nurse and said, "need anything before I head out?" With a shocked look on her face, I was introduced to the Neurosurgeon who immediately changed direction and went into the back to evaluate Tomi where he was ultimately admitted. He suffered from a laceration over his eye, a fractured tooth, a concussion, and a back injury. The doctor told me that images indicated that when our patrol vehicle was struck, Tomi was forced into a C shape almost folding in half which caused him to compress his spine, puncture his own leg with his teeth and bounce around inside. Tomi’s

injuries included a laceration over his eye, fractured tooth, punctured leg and concussion as his body hit the steel cage. Tomi and I spent several trips back and forth to the Penn Vet Hospital during which time had dental surgery (removing two teeth and one implanted titanium tooth) and back surgery. Tomi spent some time home but as resilient as he was, he was ready to go back to work immediately. The hard part was keeping him relaxed at home. Although Tomi did go back to work not long after, I could see a change in his body language.

 

After continued evaluations, Tomi's Vet had said that the accident had caused so much trauma to his body that he physically aged much faster. I knew that Tomi would never slow down despite his limitations and knowing this would put him and I in a position of vulnerability, I had to make the decision to retire him from patrol work. Tomi continued with narcotic detection for some time later but he ultimately retired in 2023 after serving 10 years of dedicated service to the State of Delaware. 

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After Tomi was injured, he received handmade get well cards from school kids across the country.  A police wives' group from Ohio sent a handmade blanket, another group donated an orthopedic dog bed, and others sent gift baskets with toys, treats, and shampoos.  The outpour of support we received from people that we had never met from across the country was just amazing and left me speechless. It made me want to pay it forward. 

 

Whether you are interested in sponsoring a ballistic vest, donating towards the cost of a vest or care package, or just want to donate, we could not do this without the support and generosity of you.  So, thank you!  

 

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Thank you for listening to our story, and we appreciate your support!

 

Sincerely,

 

The Tomi's Vested K-9s Team