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Galveston Police Department Canine Marko #544K is retiring after five and a half years of service as an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) Detection Canine.

K9 Marko has faithfully served GPD since 2017 and has seen approximately 83 deployments and countless hours of training. During the course of Marko’s career, those deployments assisted in supporting the apprehension of suspects and ensuring the streets of Galveston were cleared of explosive devices for large-scale events such as Mardi Gras and Lonestar Biker Rally.

Marko additionally supported operations of the FBI, US Marshalls, Coast Guard, Homeland Security, Secret Service, and many other local and federal law enforcement agencies throughout the greater Houston Region. Marko additionally supported operations during the Santa Fe High School shooting, searching for improvised explosive devices the suspect had placed throughout the school.

Marko’s exemplary service has served the City of Galveston well to ensure the safety and security of its citizens.

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Marko is a German shepherd, born September 3, 2015 in Budapest, Hungary and imported in 2016 by the Houston K9 Academy in Houston, Texas.

In 2017, Officer E. Eguis #521 went to HK9 to test out potential K9’s for GPD, and Marko quickly caught his attention as being a high drive and dependable option that would quickly become his partner on the streets. Marko and Officer Eguis went through a nine-week EOD detection and patrol school, identified as dualpurpose, with HK9 and were certified by the National Narcotic Detector Dog Association (NNDDA) as being proficient in the detection of explosives as well as tracking and apprehension of suspects.

Marko showed that proficiency on the streets of Galveston, with all his apprehensions resulting in suspects giving up after seeing Marko’s intimidating size and stature. Marko and Officer Eguis were partners until 2020, with Marko being reassigned to Officer L. Murph #617 in November of 2020.

Photo credit: Galveston Police Department

After being assigned to Officer Murph, Marko began to show signs of age and it was determined to change his work from dual-purpose to single purpose, meaning he would only now conduct searches for explosives.

Officer Murph and Marko were then certified as a single purpose EOD K9 through Dogs for Law Enforcement (DLE) for the detection of explosives, and worked together until January 2022 in which Marko was again reassigned to Officer B. Ali #544. With Officer Ali, Marko was again certified as a single purpose EOD K9 through NNDDA and continued to serve the City of Galveston until December 16, 2022.

Marko will retire and remain with Officer Ali, where he will enjoy his time off to be a normal dog again with no stress and work to worry about.