Worcester County Sheriff's Office

The Worcester County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit was established in 1979 with one K-9 dog. In 1981, a second K-9 unit was added to the division. Today, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office has 8 dual purpose K-9’s assigned to the Road Patrol and Criminal Enforcement Division. Each dog is certified in either patrol, narcotics, tracking, or explosives. The current K-9 teams include, Dutch Shepherds, German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois and German Shepherd mixes, and a Black Labrador.

The Sheriff’s Office currently has two explosive detection K-9’s. These highly trained K-9’s respond to suspicious calls, bomb threats, and articles searches for firearms. Each of the K-9’s have attended numerous training including specialized training at the Dover Air Force Base with military handlers. There they learn and train on the current trends of explosives and materials used to make explosives. Our K-9 teams have responded to areas throughout Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia for explosives calls. Our K-9 teams also search and scan large events, and have assisted in presidential and VIP visits to the area.

The K-9 teams are supervised by a K-9 administrator and a K-9 supervisor, who is responsible for their training and record keeping.

The remaining K-9 teams are trained in patrol, tracking, and narcotics detection. Each K-9 team attends a rigorous training syllabus to become certified K-9 handler and K-9 team. Each of our K-9 teams are training to conduct building searches, man-tracking, article searches, missing or lost person tracks, bite and apprehension training, handler protection, and basic obedience. After successful completion of training, the K-9 teams are assigned permanent shifts and supplement the Patrol Division with calls for service. The K-9 teams area responsible for hundreds of building searches each year and have made numerous drug and money seizures. At the conclusion of their careers, the K-9 partners are retired and given back to their handlers to enjoy rest and relaxation. The Sheriff’s Office continues their care after retirement.