ON ST. PAT’S PATROL
NYPD cop and K-9 partner aim to sniff out any trouble
The green-garbed crowd lining Fifth Ave. for the 262nd St. Patrick’s Day Parade will include one bomb-sniffing guest with no ties to the Emerald Isle.
NYPD Detective Katrina Narvaez and K-9 unit partner Freddy, an Alabama-born mix of Labrador retriever and German wirehaired pointer, are slated to work a side-by-side security shift Friday amidst the revelers at this year’s celebration.
“We’re literally just here the whole time,” said Narvaez, 35, a second-generation NYPD officer. “We’ll go up and down our area. He sniffs everyone. People watch him — they’ll be standing at the barricades and he’s the first part of the parade.”
The detective, who joined the department a decade ago, said Freddy receives plenty of love from those watching the festivities in the area around St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
“They’ll be applauding him,” she said. “He’ll go up to them, smell them, which is his job. So he’s doing it, but it’s also fun.”
Narvaez shares their warm feelings about her 6-year-old colleague: “He’s my best friend. He’s my partner. It is different. It’s a one-way conversation, but it’s great.”
The detective followed her dad into the department after his 1996 line-of-duty death. Lt. Federico Narvaez was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a man who was stalking an ex-girlfriend’s daughter, and the support of her father’s NYPD co-workers influenced her decision to join the force.
“They went out of their way to help me,” she said. “And it showed me this was a good path for me. I also loved animals. So when I found out about the K-9 unit ... I was like ‘This is a pretty good fit for me.’ It just comes back to wanting to help people.”
The dog’s name pays homage to her dad.
“I think he’d be proud,” said Narvaez of her late parent. “I think he’d find it pretty cool that we have a dog named after him.”
The daughter began her career in the 70th Precinct, where her father once worked, before moving into the domestic violence unit and then partnering up with Freddy after joining the Emergency Service Unit.
Freddy is the lone dog of his breeding working with the NYPD, and shares the rank of detective with Narvaez. The pair typically work in tandem in Midtown tourist hotspots like Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal and Times Square.
The duo also performs demonstrations in schools, with Freddy the main attraction for the students, she said.
“A lot of people appreciate him and it’s good,” said Narvaez. “He’s really good with kids. So it helps a lot that he’s friendly.”
Once the celebration winds down, Narvaez and her partner will head to her home for a well-deserved meal.
“We’re together all the time,” she said. “He gets in my car, we drive home, we sit in traffic together. We eat dinner together and then we do it all again the next day.”