Comox Valley police dog ‘Hammer’ made two arrests and helped find a missing woman in one week

A Comox Valley police dog, Hammer, is being credited with playing a key role in three separate cases that occured within days of each other, according to RCMP.

On January 24th, Comox Valley RCMP were called to the Trent River Trail System after they received a report that a woman and her dog had gotten lost in the area.

Two Comox Valley Search and Rescue members plus an officer and Hammer responded to the call. Once the team got to the area, Hammer picked up on the woman’s trail and tracked down the missing hiker within 10 minutes.

“Thankfully, this situation ended well, with Hammer locating this woman quickly,” said Cpl Graves of the Comox Valley RCMP in a statement.

Just one day later, Hammer was called in again to assist in a more dangerous incident.

On January 25th, officers were on a routine patrol when they noticed a man – who was “well known” to police – acting suspiciously near a residence.

The man was prohibited from being near the residence due to probation conditions, so officers approached the house, and with permission from the homeowner, began to search inside for the man. He was eventually found inside the home’s crawl space and refused to come out.

That’s when Hammer was called in.

Due to the small dimensions of the crawl space, the K9 was sent in to locate the suspect, who surrendered after the encounter. The man, 38-year-old Justin Hedican, has been charged with breaching his probation.

Then, to round out his busy week, Hammer helped track down a suspect who left dangerous debris on Highway 19. Here’s what happened:

On January 27th, police responded to reports of vehicles colliding with debris that had been left on both the northbound and southbound highway lanes.

Hammer was called in to assist with the scene and quickly picked up on a trail that lead to a wooded area near the highway.
In the woods, police found a man who may have been responsible for the road obstructions and took him into custody.

“We are very fortunate that no one was injured as a result of these actions,” said Inspector Mike Kurvers in a release.

“We would ask that if the public notices debris or hazards on any roadway that they call the RCMP right away.”