Police Departments across the United States began utilizing trained dogs to assist officers in their force. The Lakeland Police Department (LakelandPD) obtained its first police dog, a two-year-old German Shepherd named Sarge, in 1980. His assigned handler was Officer Ron Bowling. The two formed a partnership of working and living together for ten years.
Police dogs go through a rigorous training course to become certified. Once basic commands are learned, each dog will then train in a specialty. In the early days, the dogs were used to off-set hazardous situations by flushing out or chasing suspects. As officers learned more about what the dogs were capable of doing, they began to be used in drug and gun searches.
“Top Dog” Sarge also competed in US Police Canine National and Regional contests, where he took top awards, winning ribbons and trophies. He is credited with the first drug bust by a dog in Polk County in 1981. Sarge’s assistance with arrests was numerous. The success of their partnership inspired the LPD to add more K9 officers to the city and the county teams. In 1985, with just a week left before retiring after five years of service, Sarge was wounded during a confrontation. The dog took two bullets to the neck while searching for suspects in the dark. The K9 Officer was rushed to the vet, where he recovered from his wounds. He enjoyed his retirement and watched from a distance the next generation of police dogs. Sarge died at age 12 in 1990.
Officer Bowling would come to be known as “Polk County’s Father of K-9 Training.” He was instrumental in the success of the police dog program for both the city and the county. In 2013, the Lakeland Police Department renamed their canine area to “Sgt. Ron Bowling Police K-9 Training Facility” in honor of his years of service.