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Departments > Police > Patrol > K-9
The Oak Lawn Police Department’s K9 unit was started in 1996. The department’s first police service dog was K9 Balt. K9 Balt is a German Shepard from Germany . Balt’s handler was Sgt. Joseph Stubbs. While assisting the DEA, K9 Balt found over 1200 kilos of cocaine hidden inside large cardboard boxes of carrots. This discovery leads to the seizure of over $5 million in cash. After a successful career K9 Balt was retired in the fall of 2004 due to health reasons.
K9 Ajax is the department’s second police service dog. K9 Ajax is also a German Shepard from Germany . K9 Ajax was trained at Landheim Kennels in Indiana . He has been on the street since July of 2001. K9 Ajax’s handler is Ofc. Dan Vittorio. K9 Ajax has helped locate several offenders and has assisted the department’s Tactical Unit in locating narcotics.
The latest addition to the unit is K9 Dante. K9 Dante is a Belgian Malinois. K9 Dante and his handler Officer Gerald Vetter graduated from the Cook County K9 Training Academy in July of 2006. Officer Vetter and K9 Dante are assigned to the patrol division on the afternoon watch.
All three dogs are trained as “Dual Purpose” service dogs. This means that as well as detecting drugs, the dogs can also track both suspected criminals and lost people, search an area or building foe hidden suspects, and protect their handler.
The K9 officers also enjoy getting out and meeting the public with their dogs. You can see them at village fests and block parties. The K9 unit is a great asset to the department and the Village of Oak Lawn .
The dogs are certified by the North American Police Work Dog Association and the Illinois Police Work Dog Association. For More information on police service dogs check out the following web sites:
www.ILPWDA.com
www.NAPWDA.com
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