After more than 27 years with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, Deputy Kevin Jones has called it a career, and his longtime narcotics partner, K-9 Blaze, is getting a well-earned victory lap on the way out. Blaze, a five-odor certified narcotics dog credited with roughly 1,900 searches, more than 1,000 training hours and a find rate above 90 percent, wrapped up eight years of service with the agency. Jones began with the sheriff's office in the corrections division in 1999 and moved up to deputy sheriff in 2004.
According to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, the retirement post for Jones and Blaze highlights the dog's track record and credits Marion County's narcotics team with a string of large seizures during Jones' tenure. The list includes more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana, about 200 pounds of methamphetamine, roughly 150 pounds of fentanyl and over 50 pounds of cocaine. The post also notes that Jones worked in patrol operations and the special investigations unit, and it thanks him for "more than 27 years" of service. Photos and the full write-up are posted on the agency's Facebook page.
Partners on the job
Jones' path from corrections to patrol and then into special investigations is the kind of multi-unit career that often pairs with K-9 work, where handlers split their time between routine patrol and more targeted enforcement. Deputies in those roles train constantly with their dogs to keep detection skills sharp and certifications current, and the teams are often pulled into multi-agency operations and traffic stops when contraband is suspected. In Jones and Blaze's case, the sheriff's office framed the retirement as the closing chapter of a long-running partnership that helped support narcotics investigations across multiple jurisdictions.
Seizures and the wider picture
The seizure totals in the sheriff's post point to the scale at which regional narcotics units and task forces are operating, with multi-agency reports and drug-threat assessments showing kilogram-level methamphetamine and fentanyl interdictions in Oregon in recent years. As detailed by Oregon-Idaho HIDTA and in reporting on Oregon State Police K-9 traffic stops that turned up hundreds of pounds of meth and multiple pounds of suspected fentanyl, law enforcement agencies have repeatedly intercepted large shipments and pill-press operations that supply local distribution networks. Officials say those efforts are generally aimed at disrupting supply chains rather than focusing only on street-level arrests.
The sheriff's office closes its tribute by thanking Jones and Blaze for their work and by noting the duo's role in investigations that bridged everyday patrol duties and narcotics enforcement. The Facebook post includes photos from the retirement and a detailed rundown of Blaze's accomplishments, and local readers can see the full tribute on the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office Facebook page.
