Retired OPD K-9 Officer Gary Mattingly & His Partner Artus Return

Gary Mattingly has been in law enforcement for 23 years. In May 2018 he and his partner Artus retired from the Owensboro Police Department. Now they're back but in a different county.

Angel here! I have known Gary Mattingly and his twin brother Paul since I was a rowdy teenager living out on Hwy 142 throwing parties. They would show up and bust my parties and make everyone go home. We all respected them because they did their job and did it well.

GM FB

When I began working for the City of Owensboro I crossed paths with Gary again because he worked for the Owensboro Police Department. He would bring his dog K9 Artus, who he got in 2011, to our Day Camp to talk with the kids. He also visited Burns Middle School when I worked there.

Artus is an 8-year-old shepherd from Slovakia. Gary and K9 Artus trained for six weeks with Top Dog Inc. out of Evansville with Master Trainer Captain John Haler. Artus is trained in five (5) different illegal odors, drug detection, evidence search, tracking, agility, handler protection, building search. K9 Artus and Gary are certified through the American Police Canine Association (APCA) and have to certify each year.

Gary and K9 Artus are now working for the Hancock County Sheriff's Department. Gary is a Deputy Sheriff and School Resource Officer.

Their day consists of keeping a safe environment for students, educators and faculty at each of the four schools in the Hancock County School District. K9 Artus and I have various duties in and out of the buildings.

I hope Hancock County knows just how very blessed they are to have Gary. He not only serves and protects our communities but he also served our country with pride. We are so blessed to have him and K9 Artus. So happy to hear they are back out of retirement.

P.S. I would love to snuggle K9 Artus but I am not sure he would be up for that LOL!