By: Zach Wendling
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — A new state law that took effect this week authorizes emergency medical services crews to provide care or transportation to Nebraska K-9s if one is ever injured in the line of duty.
Lawmakers, by a 47-0 vote in April 2024, approved a measure from State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston allowing emergency medical services for K-9s after July 1, 2025. It covers law enforcement canines owned or employed by state or local law enforcement, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, local fire departments or the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
K-9s aiding in the detection of criminal activity, flammable materials or missing persons; enforcement of laws; investigation of fires or apprehending criminal offenders would be covered.
Riepe said K-9s have proven beneficial and he hopes the law works out well.
“I think most people have a real kind spot in their heart for both dogs, cats, and probably some other animals that I’m not even aware of,” Riepe said this week.
Cody Thomas, a spokesperson for the Nebraska State Patrol, which employs and trains police service dogs, said the canines are “an extension of the officers they work with every day.” Such work can be dangerous for K-9s, with at least 10 killed in the line of duty nationwide already in 2025, he said.
“In the event one of our K-9 partners is injured in the line of duty, we would be grateful for any assistance provided by EMS teams, including transportation to an emergency veterinary hospital,” Thomas said in an email to the Nebraska Examiner.
At least two Nebraska K-9s have been killed in the past decade: K-9 Kobus for the Omaha Police Department in 2016 and K-9 Nitro II for the York County Sheriff’s Department in 2022.
More than a dozen states have similar laws.
Riepe’s legislation began at the initiative of Nebraska City Police Department Sgt. Christopher Richardson. Richardson sought to get around a state law forbidding any emergency care for an animal, including the bandaging of a minor cut.
“These dogs are alone and untreated, wasting valuable time and preventing lifesaving measures from being performed,” Richardson testified at a February 2024 hearing.
Richardson, who has taken multiple K-9s under his wing, told the Examiner in 2024 that in the case of Nebraska City, it can be a 45-minute delay to the nearest applicable care facility should his K-9 be harmed. He had said K-9 handlers spend more one-on-one time with their dogs, who he said can save an officer’s life without hesitation, than with their families.
“They’re not just another tool that’s on our duty belt,” Richardson previously told the Examiner.
The new law still gives humans priority in the need of medical care or transport. EMS teams, including volunteer departments, would not be required to implement the new law. Any EMS workers operating in “good faith” to care for the dogs would be given civil and criminal immunity.
“We just want to make sure we don’t leave a dog that was injured in duty behind, which seems like a very common-sense thing,” Riepe told the Examiner in 2024.
The law authorized the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services to implement additional regulations. Instead, DHHS and the state’s Board of Emergency Medical Services and Board of Veterinary Medicine adopted multiple recommendations.
Among the recommendations for EMS teams that take on the new law:
- Have a backup ambulance or plan to respond to emergency calls while caring for or transporting a K-9.
- Certification in basic life support through the RECOVER initiative.
- Specific training in K-9 care.
- Close alignment with a local veterinary or pet care facility that would continue K-9 care after transport..
- Medical equipment suitable for animal use, including oxygen masks and/or respiratory barrier masks for “mouth to snout” use.”
- Written policies and procedures crafted with a local veterinarian for appropriate training, including safe handling for injured K-9s, such as muzzles, response coordination with a law enforcement officer trained in handling police dogs and decontamination procedures after K-9 transportation.
“We don’t want to have to transport our dogs in an ambulance,” Richardson said last year. “But if it comes to that, having that ability is huge.”