Buckeye Police Welcome New K9 Officer

The Buckeye Police Department has welcomed a new four-legged member to the team. K9 Echo is a 20-month-old Belgian Malinois that began training this week for a career in law enforcement. Echo will be instrumental in keeping Buckeye safe by removing drugs and dangerous criminals from our community.

"He'll be learning narcotics, area searches, building searches, tracking and suspect apprehension. All that good stuff," says Echo's handler, Officer Dave Smith.

Echo began K9 Academy this week. The specialized training will last approximately six to eight weeks, depending on how well Echo learns and adjusts to his role as police dog. The first week is mostly dedicated to drug detection, training the dog to locate heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl.

A canine's primary role in law enforcement is to locate, whether that involves items or people.

"He's going to be trained in article searches so anything with human odor on it," says Smith. "Say a suspect burglarizes your house, runs away and drops a cell phone. We'll be able to locate the cell phone."

Canine officers play a critical role in helping investigators gather evidence, develop leads and make arrests. They also keep officers safe.

K9 Echo joins K9 Drax on the Buckeye Police K9 Unit. The dogs form close bonds with their respective handlers.

"My job is just to make sure [K9 Echo] and I are compatible and that he understands what I'm looking for and what I'm asking, and I understand what he's doing based on what he's been trained on so far," says Smith of his new puppy partner.

Not every pooch is cut out for police work, but those that excel with training are taught that work time is play time.

"When they're out working, it's fun," says Smith. "We make home boring so when they get into the patrol car, into the kennel, they're ready to go because it's like 'oh we get to play.'"

Once K9 Echo successfully completes K9 Academy, the team will be certified, but training does not stop there. Echo will train ten hours a week for the rest of his career. For now, Officer Smith is taking academy day by day to determine K9 Echo's capabilities and strategies to enhance his partner's skills.

"He's still a pup," says Smith. "I'm going to have my hands full for a couple weeks getting him tamed down a little big for what I need him for, but I think we'll be good."

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