The Bergen County Police Department K-9 Unit became operational in January, 1975. Since that time, the K-9 Unit has responded to over 12,000 calls for service from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies. Currently the unit is staffed by seven police officers and eight dogs. These teams are on patrol and respond to calls for assistance in addition to their regular patrol duties. The K-9 services provided are patrol (tracking and searching), narcotic detection, explosive detection, and accelerant detection.

The K-9 Unit has been successful in its mission, being featured in numerous newspaper articles, professional articles and publications. The unit has also received many professional and civic awards.

In 1982, this department first supplied dogs and training to the Bergen County Sheriff's Office for their K-9 program that was initiated to serve the needs of the Bergen County Jail. In 1984, this department trained a narcotic detector component to the Bergen County Sheriff's K-9 Unit at the request of then Sheriff William McDowell for use at the Bergen County Jail.

The police K-9 unit has become an integral part of the Bergen County Police Department's mission to provide professional services to law enforcement and the resident's of Bergen County.

 

Services Provided

The Canine (K-9) Unit can provide the following services:

	Tracking or searching for criminal actors.
	Tracking or searching for missing persons.
	Building searches.
	Evidence searches. (Including discarded weapons.)
	Cadaver searches.
	Warrant executions.

In addition to these general canine patrol services, special detection services are available at all times:

	Narcotics detection. (Including vehicle searches, search warrant executions, and identifying "drug money" for confiscation.)
	Explosives detection. (Bomb threats, search warrants for explosives, and VIP and special event protection.)
	Arson accelerant detection. (Post-fire investigations and area searches for containers.)

Officers of the canine unit are also available to neutralize guard dogs with non-lethal methods on warrant executions and other occasions when it would be inappropriate for civilian animal control personnel to be present.

 

Who to Call

Call Bergen County Police Headquarters, any time:

(201) 646-2700

What to Do

Searches and tracking:

	Set up a perimeter to contain the suspects and, if possible, exclude bystanders.
	Withdraw from the search area so as not to add officers' scents and obscure the subjects' scents.

 

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Micah Hassinger, Systems Administrator and Webmaster
Copyright © 1998-2006 Bergen County Police Department. All rights reserved.                                
Revised: February 20,2003