On October 18th, 2017, Officer Aaron Steere and his K-9 Viking were awarded the Rhode Island Attorney General's 2016 Justice Award for Drug Enforcement. This award is given out every year in honor of US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a former RI Attorney General.

Officer Aaron Steere has been the handler for K-9 Viking for over 5 years and has become an important resource not only for the city but also regularly used by HIDTA and the DEA for narcotic searches. Officer Steere made 206 arrests and issued 580 traffic citations in 2016, mostly through his regular hotel and highway interdiction tactics. He, along with K-9 Officer Paul Wells and K-9 Fox, were responsible for 13 K-9 tracks, 4 building searches and 61 narcotic investigations, both in Warwick and assisting the DEA. Officers Steere and Wells with their K-9's were responsible for the seizure of $557,200 in suspected narcotics money, 69.7 pounds of Marijuana, 9.3 kilograms of Heroin and Fentanyl, and 9.1 kilograms of cocaine and crack. Our K-9 unit is an important aspect of our total community policing effort and Officers Steere and Wells contributed to this by giving 18 K-9 demonstrations throughout the year.

Congratulations and keep up the great work. Unfortunately Aaron was on a scheduled cruise with his family and could not attend the ceremony where the Attorney General recognized several other police officers and civilians involved in the criminal justice system.