The Queen Creek Police Department (QCPD) recently introduced its new K-9 unit as a great asset to both the department and the community during its first year of service.
This K-9 unit includes two German Shepherd/Belgian Malinois mixed breed dogs and their handlers: Obi works with officer Deanna Kuhn and Jack works with officer Ryan Grossman. Both specialty trained police canines are now working in the Queen Creek community for search and detection operations or tasks. Jack is being trained in narcotics detection and Obi is trained in explosives detection.
Both police dogs will also aid in locating missing or endangered people and fleeing suspects. Having canines trained in different scent disciplines is a valuable asset to the community and enhances the level of service they will be able to provide to residents, according to Queen Creek Police Chief Randy Brice.
"We've noticed a high amount of runaway juveniles, seniors with dementia, and children and adults with special needs during this first year of service and we look for every avenue to help with these calls, so we added drones and the K-9 unit was a natural addition to that," Brice explained. "The K-9 unit is making our search and rescue efforts to find these individuals better, along with bomb/explosive dog detections. Now we have the capacity to perform these activities."
He added, "I imagine we'll add some (more canines) down the road because our officers are very dedicated to what they do and we thank the community for their continued support, I don't think we'd be able to (make such strides in the first year of operations) without them."
The community will have a chance to meet the new QCPD K-9 units at the upcoming Public Safety Day from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 20727 Civic Parkway. For more information about Public Safety Day, visit QueenCreek.AZ/PublicSafetyDay.
