Slain officer known for canine partners
U.S. Forest Service Officer Kristine Fairbanks and her law enforcement partner, Radar, are shown in this photo taken a year ago. -- Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News
By Jim Casey, Peninsula Daily News
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"I don't have backup."
Actually, Fairbanks worked with a partner — a seven-year-old German shepherd named Radar, the third K-9 animal she had teamed with in her 15 years with the U.S. Forest Service.
Radar was found unharmed in Fairbanks' vehicle when a Clallam County deputy discovered her body at the Dungeness Forks campground off Palo Alto Road south of Sequim.
Fairbanks was a regular subject in the PDN, often for her investigations of timber thefts or salal "turf wars" in the 300,000 acres of national forest she patrolled in the Olympic Mountains.
An old-growth cedar could bring as much as $100,000 to a thief — often to bankroll drugs — and salal is valued by florists for flower arrangements.
Ferns, mushrooms, moss, cedar bark and grass also are prized — and poached.
Green contraband
Fairbanks once estimated that three-quarters of the greenery leaving the woods is harvested illegally, often by undocumented migrant workers.
She made the news almost as often, however, because of her K-9 partners.
As of 2007, Fairbanks was the only Forest Service officer in Washington state with a canine partner, and only one of 40 in the United States.
First there was Ruger, a German shepherd that was injured when he fell from a helicopter.
He needed back surgery, and retired when he was unable to jump into Fairbanks' patrol car.
Before then, though, Ruger subdued a subject who'd attacked her with a knife — and again after the subject tried a second time.
Next came Hero, another German shepherd, who with Fairbanks worked in the "other" Olympics — the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Hero, retired in 2003 because of arthritis, was euthanized in 2005 after he was diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas, stomach and liver.
Radar tracked robbers
"I don't know how you would measure the number of times he's protected me," Fairbanks told the PDN.
Hero tracked suspects, sniffed out illegal drugs and helped Fairbanks find tree thieves and salal poachers.
Fairbanks' latest partner was Radar, who helped track down a robbery fugitive from Forks in April. Late in 2007, they helped arrest another robbery suspect.
A year ago, Fairbanks and Port Angeles K-9 officer Cpl. Kevin Miller organized a seminar that drew 90 trainees and their dogs for a three-day conference in Port Angeles.
The 15-year veteran of Forest Service law enforcement was the daughter of Peninsula College forestry professor John Willits.
He taught her a love for the outdoors, she said.
No one may know why Fairbanks left Radar behind in her patrol vehicle when she approached a suspicious van Saturday afternoon and was shot to death.
As always, except for her dog, she was alone.
"It's really nice to have a partner with me," she told the PDN for a feature in 2002.
"I have a lot of area to cover and I'm always by myself."
________
Reporter Jim Casey can be reached at 360-417-3538 or at jim.casey@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: September 20. 2008 9:00PM