BELLEVUE, NE — A Bellevue Police Officer who worked with a K-9 officer for two years tattooed a picture of her furry colleague as a tribute.
Officer Holly Mcquaid was assigned her K-9 companion over two years ago when the dog was 13 months.
“He’s a great dog. Working with Rozco – an awesome dog, and a great police dog – we just had a bond that was unbreakable,” said Mcquaid.
She named him Rozco in honor of Omaha Police Officer Kerrie Orozco, who died in the line of duty in 2015.
“They let me come up with a name for him and for me it was easy,” said Mcquaid. “She had died shortly before I got him. I wanted to name him after her. I ran it through my department and they were on board with it and we got permission from her family and also the Omaha Police Department.”
Although Mcquaid and Orozco never met, Mcquaid said she felt a connection to Orozco.
“When she died, it impacted all of us in law enforcement, especially our local departments,” added Mcquaid. “It was just a great way for me personally as a fellow law enforcement officer to pay tribute to her in any way that I could so it meant a lot.”
Mcquaid started going to get tattooed in June at Electric Ink Society, a tattoo shop in Bellevue. The owner and artist, Micah Stewart said he felt a strong connection to the artwork.
“There’s so many things that the dog represents besides being in law enforcement but it carries on the legacy of Kerrie Orozco and I believe that Holly, being a female police officer now carries on that legacy too,” said Stewart.
Stewart, who supports law enforcement and offers a 35 percent discount to all law enforcement, first responders and military members, say
“I’ve done a lot of pieces and it’s up there near the very top for what it represents,” said Stewart.
Mcquaid has a couple more sessions before the art piece is complete.