Webster Police K-9 Unit

      In 2007 Chief Bent decided it was time for the department to reinstate it’s K9 program after a seven year break.  In mid July K9 Diesel arrived and became the department’s second K9 in its history.  In just a few months with the WPD, Diesel demonstrated how useful a K9 can be to a police department.

 
Officer Suss and K9 Diesel

     On 10-26-2007 Diesel successfully tracked and located a key piece of evidence which led to the arrests of three individuals for multiple home burglaries and the recovery of thousands of dollars of property.  Again on 12-27-2007 Diesel assisted the neighboring Town of Oxford in tracking an intoxicated teenager who fled his residence, and passed out in the woods wearing only a t-shirt and no shoes.  He subsequently lost consciousness amid the snow in single digit temperature and was in the beginning stages of hypothermia.   Diesel located the teen and was later credited with saving his life.

     01-05-2008 Diesel was replaced by K9 Red.  Unfortunately Diesel did not pass prescreening tests for narcotic detection work at the Boston Police K9 academy.  Faced with a tough decision, the WPD searched for another dog that could fill both roles as a dual purpose patrol/narcotics dog.  Red is an American bred German shepherd.    

 
K9 Red

On 03-00-08 after 10 weeks of training, Red and Officer Suss were both certified as a Narcotics detection team from the Worcester Police K9 academy.

 
K9 Red during Narcotics training at the Worcester K9 Academy

After working for about 6 months they went back to school and attended the Boston Police K9 patrol academy and graduated after 14 weeks.  They were trained in tracking, evidence recovery, handler protection, and obedience.

    
K9 Red at the BPD Academy doing patrol training

     During the past couple of years they have assisted officers with different investigations in both narcotics and patrol.  K9 Red has been involved in multiple arrests where he’s located narcotics or suspects while tracking.   Here are a few examples of some successful deployments;

1.       On 03-18-2009 K9 Red assisted Webster Detectives with searching a package suspected of containing narcotics.  As a result Red located 2 pounds of marijuana which would have been shipped to a Webster address.

K9 Red with 2lbs Marijuana Find

2.       On 03-16-2009 K9 “Red” assisted the Southern Worcester County Drug Task force with a narcotic search.  As a result he located one pound of marijuana in the top of a closet.  K9 “Red” also located $1200.00 all rolled up in a rubber band, along with drug “crib notes” which was hidden between mattress and box spring.  Three people were arrested.

3.       On 06-01-2009 K9 “Red” was called into work by Webster Officers investigating an assault involving narcotics.  After one of the suspects did not consent for the officers to search the inside of his vehicle, K9 “Red” was called into action.  After doing an exterior “narcotic” sniff, “Red” gave a strong indication that there were narcotics present in the vehicle, giving officers all the probable cause they needed to search.  K9 “Red” did an interior search of the car and immediately indicated that there were narcotics inside the vehicle dashboard.  In that exact location, over an ounce of marijuana, all 24 small packets for distribution were found.  As a result of K9 “Red’s” search, two people were arrested and $1300.00 of suspected drug money was seized.

4.       On 08-31-09 Officer Suss and K9 Red were dispatched to Church Court for an active domestic assault and battery.  Prior to the officers arriving, the suspect fled the area on foot after he assaulted his disabled girlfriend by fracturing her wrist.  K9 Red located the suspect hiding in the woods.  He was arrested after he struggled with the officers at the scene.

5.       On 01-28-10 Webster Police were called to Eddy Street for a reported breaking and entering in progress.  After the officers arrived, K9 Red was utilized to search the residence.  Red located a suspect and alerted officers to his hiding place under a bed.  The suspect was also arrested with a struggle by the police. 

  These are only a few of the incidents where Red was involved in arrests.  In 2009 He was deployed on 79 different occasions.  They are broken down into 27 Narcotic Searches, 23 Tracks, 21 Building and area searches, 2 School Narcotic Searches, 1 misc Patrol deployments, 5 public demonstrations.

K9 Red searching for narcotics standing on top of an old piano

     The Webster K9 Unit has also been called to assist other agencies with different deployments such as school searches and evidence searches.  They have assisted the Worcester Police Vice Squad and the United States Customs with package searches at UPS, FedEX, and at Intransit Trucking in Worcester.