Lieutenant Drew Cox, Naples Police Department

The following nomination letter was written by Mark Watkins, Chief of Police for the Naples Police Department.

Lieutenant Drew Cox is in charge of the K-9 program at the Naples Police Department. As a small community police officer (population 3,000) our opportunities are limited as well as our resources. Lt. Cox has dedicated his time and often donated his time to our K-9 program. In the last 8 years Lt. Cox has acquired his certifications to train K-9 dogs and their handlers. Doing so has allowed the Naples Police Department to place three drug/patrol dogs patrolling our jurisdiction in a police department of only 7 officers as well as assisting other jurisdictions. Naples is able to cut the cost of purchasing and training a K-9 from approx. $18,000 to approx. $5,000 per dog saving the community money and giving them an unlimited and very valuable resource. Just recently Lt. Cox has acquired a bomb dog that I believe may be the first bomb dog outside of the Wasatch front and certainly the first in the Uintah Basin and arguably a huge resource for the Basin. This dog cost the City of Naples nothing.

Lt Cox also has another passion that when he’s not dog training he’s a valiant and very talented child abuse investigator. I, as a 28 year veteran of law enforcement have never seen such compassion and dedication to investigate and illuminate child abuse, that in and of itself, is a hero in by book.

Lt, Cox is an invaluable asset to my police department and to the community that honestly I can’t do without but more
important is the need for talents like Lt. Cox in smaller rural jurisdictions that are willing to dedicate and sacrifice for the
community.