Kristi retired from the King County Sheriff’s Office in February 2024 after 27.5 years in law enforcement. She dedicated eight years to street-level drug investigations, focusing on neighborhood safety. As a detective passionate about becoming a drug K9 handler, she partnered with the department’s drug dog team to learn handling techniques and integrate K9s into her investigations and attending any detection K9 classes she could.

In 2011, Kristi was selected as the drug dog handler for the Eastside Narcotics Task Force (ENTF), working with K9 Kuva. She served in both plain clothes and uniform, deploying Kuva for her agency and others. Kuva retired shortly after the legalization of marijuana, having served four years.

During her tenure, Kristi co-founded a regional training group, which grew from four to 8-10 teams monthly. Even after Kuva’s retirement, Kristi continued to provide the monthly maintenance training. By 2015, she became a drug dog certifying official for the Pacific NW Police Detection Dog Association (PNWK9) and later served as its secretary. She also became a representative on the WA ST K9 standards board and one of the state’s first narcotics K9 team evaluators. Kristi also became a judge for the National Association of Canine Scent Work (NACSW).

In 2017, Kristi transitioned to an explosive detection dog handler with K9 Luna, relinquishing her roles with PNWK9 to focus on explosives. She was instrumental in updating the department’s K9 record-keeping system, collaborating with other county departments on moving the explosive training aids to a more accessible location, and became a state evaluator for explosive detection teams in addition to the narcotics. Kristi also serves as an evaluator for the International Police Canine Association. In 2022, she started instructing annually at the Idaho Police Canine Association’s conference.