Nash, Stryker team up at APD

When it comes to searching out drugs or missing people, Atlanta Police Department K-9 Officer Stryker has the nose for the job.

Stryker joined the APD in June 2025 and teamed up with Officer Rhonda Nash in January and the two are pretty much inseparable.

Nash, who has been with APD for two years, received her K-9 Officer Certification on Feb. 18.

At the February Atlanta City Council meeting, Atlanta Police Chief Greg Restelle described Stryker as a “social butterfly.”

Since Stryker has been with Nash, he’s had the opportunity not only to be around kids at home, but at school as well.

Nash said she has taken Stryker to the baseball fields where her son was practicing with his team and he enjoyed watching the kids play.

He also got to go to a local high school after an active shooter alert was issued. Although it was a false alarm, Nash said he was entertained by kids throwing a football.

Training for Stryker is a never-ending thing. “I work with him every day in some way,” Nash said. To hone his people-seeking skills, Nash said she will send either her kids or friends into the woods and they will try to hide where they think Stryker will not find them, but they are always unsuccessful.

The most impressive, she said, was when her friend went through the woods and hid in a deer stand. “He was able to find them with the ice and snow all over the ground,” Nash said.

Nash also takes him to Walmart on occasion as training to keep him used to social settings. So far, she said, only one person they encountered made conscious efforts to give them a wide berth as they passed by.

Stryker’s drug dog certification is for methamphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy, heroin and marijuana. To earn his certification, he had to find each of drugs, which he did in less than a minute. For every drug dog, their signal when they locate drugs is different. For Stryker, he sits and gives a silent stare at the location.

One of his recent successes was with his former partner when he assisted the Cass County Sheriff ’s Office during a search and alerted on $217,000 in drug money.

Stryker also assisted in a recent search for an elderly resident with dementia who had wandered off.

When he’s not working or training, Nash said he’s just like any other dog – playing fetch and sits at the window barking at the neighbor’s dog.

Nash said she hopes to attend a canine handler school in Georgia just to further her education.

She was also invited to participate in weekly training sessions in Texarkana, where canine police officers can share knowledge and techniques from each other, as well as from an on-site instructor at the Texarkana Police Training Center.