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K-9 Unit |
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The purpose of the Worthington K-9 Unit is to provide a superior sense of smell, hearing, and potential aggressiveness as a valuable supplement to law enforcement man-power, which aids in crime prevention and control. Laika is very busy throughout the year. Public demonstrations are given at many times for any organization requesting the service. Laika also conducts locker sniffs in area schools and is available to any area law enforcement agencies requesting any of the above listed K-9 services. K-9 Car
- The patrol car used by the K-9 Unit is a
standard police car |
The
Worthington Police K-9 Unit consists of one United States Police Canine
Association certified Belgian Malinios named Laika, her handler, Randy
Liepold, and a K-9 program supervisor, Jason Beckmann. Laika is
trained in all aspects of criminal apprehension, building searches, area
searches and narcotics detection. Laika is also skilled in
tracking suspects or lost individuals. Laika was born on May 6,
2003 in the Netherlands. She started working for the Worthington
Police Department on April 5, 2004.
modified for transporting our dog. Most noticeably, it has a
platform in the rear seat specifically designed for the dog, and
electric doors that may be opened remotely by the handler. The
handler often has to leave his dog in the car while attending to other
business and will leave the car running with the air conditioner on.
One of the special features include windows that automatically go down
when the temperature in the interior of the car gets too high. The
car will also activate the lights and siren and send a signal to the K-9
officer's pager warning him of the problem.