Clarksville police retire K9 Riggs, officer adopts longtime partner

Riggs spent years running hard, working close, and answering every call, and now the Clarksville Police Department is sending the patrol and detection dog into retirement with the handler who knows his pace best. The department recognized Riggs’ retirement on April 20 after his last official day of duty on Dec. 15, 2025, and Clarksville City Council had already unanimously approved both the retirement and his adoption by Officer Lyssed Pacheco on April 2.

Clarksville police said Riggs retired because of medical concerns, a reminder of how much wear a high-drive K-9 can absorb after years of patrol work. Riggs joined the department’s Special Operations K9 Services Unit in October 2019, originally working with Officer Tyler Weaver before continuing his service with Pacheco. The department said Riggs and Pacheco completed the same six-week patrol and detection certification course, a shared foundation that helped turn a working assignment into a retirement plan.

For law-enforcement K-9s like Riggs, retirement is rarely just about age. It is about preserving the stability that makes these dogs effective in the first place. Clarksville police said their K-9s are dual-purpose dogs trained not only for narcotics detection, but also for locating missing persons, finding evidence from burglaries and other crimes, tracking, and physically apprehending dangerous suspects. Every dog in the unit completes extensive training in vehicle searches, house searches, tracking, and warrant service, work that demands focus, endurance, and a constant readiness to switch from scenting to action.

That is what makes the adoption by Pacheco such a practical outcome as well as an emotional one. The people who worked Riggs every day are also the ones best positioned to give him a quieter home life after years of structured work, training schedules, and patrol pressure. Clarksville police have framed the move as a natural fit for a dog whose career was built on consistency and a strong handler bond, and it reflects a broader pattern in policing: retired K-9s often stay with the person who knows how to read their energy and keep that intensity steady in civilian life.

Riggs also leaves service as part of a unit that has faced the risks of the job head-on. In 2025, Clarksville K-9s including Riggs received bullet and stab protective vests from Vested Interest in K9s, Inc., with the vests embroidered in memory of K9 King, Clarksville, Tennessee, EOW 5/22/78. For Riggs, the final chapter is no longer patrol or apprehension. It is a home with his handler, after a career measured in hundreds of hours, hard work, and the kind of trust that only a K-9 team can build.