Four-legged officers a valuable asset for CPD | Collierville Independent

There’s a good possibility that the most popular members of the Collierville Police Department are the two, four-legged officers, Roscoe and Leno.

As part of the Uniform Patrol Division, the K-9 Unit maintains highly trained dogs used for narcotic sniffing, tracking and containment, along with their specialist handlers.

Officers Justin Weaver and Matt Bialy, along with their partners, Roscoe and Leno, respectively, have greatly enhanced the number of narcotic arrests and apprehensions in Collierville through the Uniform Patrol Division, the largest single division within the Police Department.

“Our K-9 unit not only helps with detecting drugs, they are now trained to be multi-purpose. They are also used in the apprehension of perpetrators,” said Lt. Hal Banks, K-9 Lieutenant with the Uniform Patrol Division.

The police department has used a K-9 unit for more than 20 years. Capt. Sean Williams, Uniform Patrol Division commander said, “The dogs bring an element that humans don’t possess. Of all the resource tools we may use in police work, they are the outstanding tool in our tool box.”

Leno, born in 2009, and two-year-old Roscoe, live with their CPD handlers and are worked eight hours each in a split 16-hour shift.

Extensive training is administered to both the dogs and their handlers before reaching their National Narcotic Detector Dog Association certification and getting to work. The certification training is repeated annually.

“These dogs are very special and highly trained. They are socialized, but have been taught to focus on the target,” Lt. Banks said.

The ‘target’ may be to search a building, apprehend or track a suspect, or a K-9 sniff for narcotics, opiates, marijuana, heroin, or methamphetamines.

The Collierville Police Department purchases their K-9 unit animals, from Vohne Liche Kennels, a full-service K-9 facility that trains police/military service dogs. They have trained dogs for more than 5,000 law enforcement and government agencies, all military branches and hundreds of civilian and police agencies.

“The CPD K-9 unit is a very important part of our department,” Lt. Banks said. “It is not uncommon for them to be deployed, almost on a daily basis, sometimes while on patrol with Officer Bialy or Officer Weaver and sometimes by request of another officer.”