The Division of Police is pleased to have the K-9 team of Officer Mark Luciano and police dog Blackjack patrolling the city. Dogs have been a part of police work for many years. The success of a K-9 team is a reflection of time, training, and effort put forth by the handler, the dog, and the police department. Dogs can be used to apprehend suspects, locate lost and/or fleeing persons, and find drugs or explosives. The K-9 is trained to detect marijuana, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and ecstacy as well as to locate persons by tracking their recent routes and find articles such as evidence from crime scenes. Additional duties include searching cars, buildings, and open areas for narcotics. When a dog finds narcotics, he will give a trained response to the handler and then he will receive praise and a toy reward.

Even though he is a working dog, Blackjack is a social animal and will visit with our citizens. If you see Officer Luciano and Blackjack and would like to meet them, please do so. The best way to meet a police K-9 is to approach the handler and ask him to introduce you to the dog. The police dogs will live with their handlers and will work with them exclusively, so that they will have a very close bond.

We are very excited to have our K-9 team serving our Community of Excellence and look forward to bringing the K-9 team to community events and showing some of the tasks they have been trained to perform.