‘Call to arms.’ Retiring Boise Airport K9 officer reflects on a career shaped by 9/11 | Opinion
As a police officer at the Boise Airport, Anthony Damer knew everything would change after Sept. 11, 2001.
“We all knew that this was going to be a call to arms,” he told me Thursday before his retirement ceremony at the airport. “As an airport law enforcement agency at that time, we were a small department, we had very few officers, but we knew at that very instant, life was going to change forever.”
Damer wasn’t working that day, but like most people, he remembers exactly where he was: “I was standing in my sister’s living room with a cup of coffee.”
In the days following 9/11, he said, “it was hectic, exciting. Everyone was just pulling together.”
The Boise Airport at the time was in the very early stages of its K9 program, Damer said. Expanding the program became a much bigger priority. Much bigger.
“It was a mad rush to get every resource you could to help secure your airport,” he said. “We were very fortunate to be in the very early stages of the K9 program expansion. Not everybody knew what was going to happen. We just answered the call.”
Damer started working as an officer at the Boise Airport in 1999. On Thursday, he retired after 23 years as a police officer. About 50 fellow officers, members of the public, and friends and family attended the ceremony.
Of those 23 years, 19 have been spent as a K9 handler. He’s had three canine partners, the most recent being Lubo, who retired with Damer. The Boise Airport Police merged with the Boise Police Department in 2007.
He’s covered three national security events, responded to 25 bomb threats, been on 72 dignitary support missions, conducted 4,223 plane cargo searches and walked 4,388 hours on foot patrol through the airport.
Of course, Damer is a dog person. He grew up with dogs. Damer’s father was a veterinarian, so a love of animals comes naturally to him.
Speaking of his dad, for the retirement ceremony, Damer was wearing his dad’s combat boots from service in Vietnam.
Damer said in his time as a K9 handler, he never once found anything that posed a threat to the public, which he considers a success of the program.
“I’m very proud of the fact that we’ve kept this airport safe for the past 20 years,” he said. “We like to think that our presence here has increased the security at the airport. Not only do the good people see us as a valuable asset but also the bad people see us here and understand that we are one of the many layers of security.”
Mike Johnson was Boise Airport police chief when he tapped Damer to head up the K9 division.
“Anthony was the cornerstone of the K9s out there,” Johnson said. “He is just an outstanding officer and has done a great job.”
Johnson said Damer stood out, noting that Damer had finished first in his class at the K9 academy at Lackland Air Base among officers from all over the country.
As I was talking to Damer, I noticed he uses the word “we” a lot, not “I.”
His humility is exemplified by a now-legendary story of how he saved the life of a person who went into cardiac arrest on the Greenbelt near his house. Damer rushed out and performed CPR for several minutes until paramedics arrived. Damer tried to slip away from the scene unnoticed. If a responding firefighter hadn’t recognized Damer as a police officer, no one would have known the story.
Boise Airport chaplain Warren Milanowski recalled another example of Damer’s humility and dedication to service.
Damer had noticed a woman in distress at the airport, stranded, with a child, no money to buy even food, let alone a ride or a place to stay, no one to call for help.
He and several other officers pitched in to help the woman.
But perhaps even more important, Damer encouraged the creation of what is now known as the Distressed Traveler Aides fund, with which Boise Airport police officers can offer distressed travelers gift cards and personal hygiene items, free and discounted meals at airport vendors, diapers, and even hotel and motel lodgings when space is available.
Sam Nesbitt has been a Boise K9 officer for the past 12 years, and is sorry to see Damer retire.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better mentor,” Nesbitt told me before the ceremony.
Perhaps it’s fitting that Damer retired last week, just days after the 22nd anniversary of 9/11, an event that has shaped almost his entire career.
“On this anniversary week of 9/11, it’s really important to remember why we’re here and what we do,” he said.
