Officer Chuck McPhilamy of the Marietta Police Department distributed the following announcement about the retirement of Atos, a member of the department’s Criminal Interdiction Unit:

K9 ATOS is an eighty pound Belgian Malinois born on October 29, 2013.  He started his career with the Marietta Police Department in March of 2015.  Atos is a dual purpose canine trained in narcotics detection, tracking, evidence recovery, and criminal apprehension.  He was initially paired with handler (then officer) Ray Figueroa.  When Figueroa was promoted to Sergeant in May of 2019 Atos transitioned to a new handler, Officer Aaron Johnson.  Atos finished his last day on shift last week and officially retired to Officer Johnson where he will enjoy ample time chasing frisbees, and mentoring his replacement, K9 Mozes.

While with MPD, Atos was assigned to work with our Criminal Interdiction Unit (CIU) as well as Evening Watch.  MPD officers that worked with Atos describe him as loyal, dedicated, hardworking and an all- around awesome member of our team.  During his tenure here, he was deployed over 500 times and was responsible for locating and seizing countless amounts of marijuana, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and heroin.  He enabled our officers to locate fleeing suspects and make a myriad of felony arrests.  He was called to assist neighboring jurisdictions numerous times and developed a stellar reputation throughout the area.

On behalf of the entire Marietta Police Department, we thank Atos for his service and wish him plenty of rest and belly rubs in his retirement.  

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We asked ATOS if he wanted to make any final comments to his fans and the community.  He replied “woof” and wagged his tail profusely. 

A tribute video of Atos will be uploaded to the MPD Facebook and Instagram accounts shortly.