HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – The Hopkinsville Police Department’s popular paw-trol dog Bolo was showered with gifts and belly scratches while celebrating his fifth birthday with the community during a party at the Pardue Lane Dog Park. Dogs, kids, and animal lovers joined in the celebration with the Christian County Animal Shelter, The Groomery, and Haven 12:10 Animal Sanctuary set up in support. To cool off, the Hopkinsville Fire Department set up a dog pool for partying pups.
The sweet, forever smiling pup was first adopted by HPD in October of 2023. His owner, Public Information Officer Royale Marfil first fell in love with him when he visited the department from the Christian County Animal Shelter and ran down the hallway greeting everyone. Bolo is not a traditional K9 officer and instead acts as a sort of mascot for the department.
“Bolo has helped us even more with building relationships with our community members,” said Marfil. “He’s a natural talking point and everybody loves him. He has helped people show that as officers, we are people too. We all love a good furry friend.”
Bolo around town
In November 2023, he was sworn in by the mayor as HPD’s first “paw-trol” officer. Since then, he is frequently seen hanging around the station and attending community events, some of which he has a direct invitation to.
“When we don’t have community events to attend, he goes treat stash to treat stash throughout the building and takes a nap in the afternoon,” Marfil told Christian County Now.
He has been spotted around the city since he was adopted gobbling hot dogs at cookout with a cop events, at the CCPS job fair, watching the eclipse at Visit Hopkinsville, attending the occasional city council meeting, and most recently at the Touch-a-Truck event.