RED BANK: PAWSING TO ENJOY ‘DOG DAYS’
Check out redbankgreen’s photos from the annual sniffathon known as Dog Days, held Saturday in Red Bank’s Marine Park.
RED BANK: DOGS AGAIN FROLIC IN PARK
Like a dog aroused by the smell of food, Red Bank’s pandemic-interrupted Dog Days of Summer series snapped back to life in Marine Park Saturday.
The gathering, organized by the borough’s Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, featured live music by the Wag, displays by pet care organizations and several hundred wet noses.
Check out redbankgreen‘s photos from the event below.
(Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: K9 FINDS SHOPLIFTING SUSPECT
By JOHN T. WARD
A Neptune man faces charges after a struggle with police trying to arrest him on shoplifting charges Monday evening, Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
According to McConnell, police responded around 8 p.m. to a report of theft at the Walgreens store on Broad Street.
RED BANK: COP AIDED EVENTUAL VICTIM
Patrolman Stan Balmer, at right, with a State Trooper on the Parkway early on the morning of May 23. (Screenshot from release by New Jersey Attorney General. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank cop came to the aid of stranded motorist last month in the first of a series of related encounters between police and the driver, who was later shot dead by a State Trooper, authorities said Monday.
Patrolman Stan Balmer, who leads one of the borough’s two K9 teams, was off-duty and enroute home following his shift when he came upon a car broken down in the center lane of the Garden State Parkway in Brick Township on May 23, according to Chief Darren McConnell.
RED BANK: K9 TEAM COMPETES IN PRIMETIME
Patrolman Stan Balmer and Hunter running drills in Marine Park in January. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
One of Red Bank’s two police K9 teams will get a national spotlight this week when it competes in an obstacle-filled challenge on the A&E program ‘America’s Top Dogs.’
RED BANK: K9 VEST, MAYOR’S BALL, PINS
Eko, one of two canine members of the Red Bank police force, has a new ballistic vest, courtesy of the Elks. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank mayor and council were in an appreciative mood last Wednesday, spotlighting good works by three charitable organizations.
And the town now has an official lapel pin. Read on for details.
RED BANK: ‘DOG DAYS’ ROMPS IN PARK
Whelped on Monmouth Street five years ago, Red Bank’s Dog Days of Summer returned for the first of two 2018 installments with a romp in Marine Park Monday night.
RED BANK: ‘DOG DAYS’ RETURN
Getting a later start than in years past, the 2017 edition of he popular, canine-centric Dog Days of Summer returns to Red Bank this month.
RED BANK: K-9 AIDS BIG DRUG BUST
The cache of recovered narcotics included more than 500 “decks” of heroin and seven bags of pot. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s police dog found a load of illegal drugs discarded by a fleeing suspect Wednesday night, Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
LITTLE SILVER: K9 UNIT OK’D, BUT NOT A FUND
Councilman Donald Galante, with borough Attorney Meghan Clark, at the workshop session of the council Monday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Little Silver will establish a canine unit with a bomb-sniffing dog, thanks to Mayor Bob Neff‘s first-ever tiebreaker vote Monday night.
But a companion measure to create a fund to accept donations for the operation was pulled before a formal vote over concerns that it didn’t pass “pass the smell test,” in the words of Councilman Dane Mihlon.
LITTLE SILVER: K9 ISSUE SPLITS COUNCIL
Does the Little Silver police department need a dog trained in people-tracking and bomb-detection to help ensure safety at events like Little Silver Day, above?
RED BANK: COPS, COFFEE AND A NEW K-9
Eko, the department’s newest recruit, below, has been cleared by a veterinarian to begin training. He’ll join a K9 unit pioneered by Hunter, above, who’s partnered with Patrolman Stan Balmer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Some news from Red Bank police…
The department will soon be getting a second tracker dog, redbankgreen has learned.
And the RBPD plans to host a “Coffee with a Cop” event offering community members an opportunity to mingle with police and talk about their concerns in an informal setting over coffee.
RED BANK: NEWEST COP LEARNING THE BEAT
Looking a little sleepy at the end of his first day on the job, Hunter relaxes with his handler, Patrolman Stan Balmer. Below, the pair with the new vehicle that will be assigned to them once it’s rigged up. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The newest member of the Red Bank police department got a tour of the town Wednesday, acquainting himself with the streets and train station. At day’s end, a bit sleepy-eyed, he took a leak behind the police station.
His name is Hunter, he’s 20 months old, and he’s the first official police dog in the borough’s history.
RED BANK: MATTRESS MAVEN PICKS UP K9 TAB
Michael Fux, above on Broad Street in 2011. His donation cleared the way for the addition of Rugger, an 11-month-old German shepherd, to the RBPD. (Rugger photo courtesy of RBPD. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank police department has a new, four-legged member, thanks to mattress millionaire Michael Fux.
A fundraising drive launched earlier this month to create a new K9 unit came to an abrupt end Wednesday night when the town council accepted a $38,000 donation from Fux (pronounced ‘fyooks’) and his wife, Gloria Rubin, to cover nearly the entire cost of a police dog, a specially equipped vehicle to transport it and training for the dog and his handler.
The dog has already been acquired. He’s an 11-month-old male German shepherd named Rugger by his new master, Patrolman Stan Balmer. The two are off to 16 weeks of K9 school in Long Branch starting Monday.
“We’re already bonding,” said Balmer, a former rugby player, or “rugger,” as he showed off cellphone photos of his new partner.
RED BANK: PD HOPES TO ADD K9 TO ROSTER
A member of the Monmouth County Sheriff’s K-9 unit, called in to help find a burglary suspect on Windward Way in Red Bank two years ago. Patrolman Stan Balmer, below, has offered to train with and host a dog. (Photo by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Over the two decades he’s been with the Red Bank Police Department, now-Chief Darren McConnell has wanted a dog. Not a pet, but a K-9, trained to sniff out drugs, suspects and missing persons.
For one reason or another, though, none of his predecessors got around to securing one.
Now, at the urging of one of his patrolmen, McConnell’s department is attempting to leash a four-legged sniffer, and do it without putting the cost on taxpayers.
RED BANK HITS THE PAWS BUTTON TONIGHT
Red Bank rolls out the red carpet for man’s best friend Tuesday night with the first in the series of three planned ‘Dog Days‘ festivals. Monmouth Street between Broad Street and Drummond Place will be closed to traffic from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. as dozens of animal-products vendors set up for an expected turnout of several hundred canines and their homo sapiens. All dogs must be on non-extendable leashes, the borough says. The event, whelped by Mayor Pasquale Menna, is scheduled to recur on the last Tuesday nights of August, September and October. (Click to enlarge)
COPS AND CANINE HUNT BREAK-IN SUSPECT
Red Bank police, aided by a member of the Monmouth County Sheriff’s K-9 unit, searched for a suspect who tried to break into a home on Windward Way late Thursday morning. Police said the perpetrator smashed a residential window but fled without gaining entry. (Photo by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)