Kurt Lathrop Honored as Fire Investigator of the Year
Through his strong belief in combating the crime of arson, Deputy Fire Marshal Lathrop has promoted a working relationship between Southeastern Guide Dogs, Inc., State of Maine Criminal Justice Academy and State Farm Insurance. The project entails preparing dogs, which could not become guide dogs, as accelerant and bomb detection dogs. To date, 54 dogs have been sent to the Maine State Police, of which 48 are accelerant K-9s and 6 are bomb detection K-9s. In recognition of his work with Southeastern Guide Dogs, they have featured both Kurt and Lucky in their 2009 calendar.
Deputy Fire Marshal Lathrop also spearheaded a project that would help injured law enforcement K-9s, by teaming up with Mana-Teens, a local teenage volunteer group in Manatee County. Mana-Teens raised funds to purchase and stock 16 trauma kits for all the working law enforcement K-9s in Manatee County.
During his 16 years of service conducting fire scene investigations, he as had three (3) K-9 partners: Allie, Penny and current partner Lucky. All three (3) K-9s were received from State Farm Insurance and certified at the Maine State Police Academy.
