Kendall County Sheriff's Office Adds Third Police Dog

Some suspects have ‘fessed up about where illegal drugs were stashed after seeing a police dog ready to do a search, said Kendall County Sheriff’s Deputy Timothy Decamp.

Since Decamp finished K9 officer training with his German shepherd, Luke, in December, the pair has searched for (and found) a small bag of narcotics that landed in a crevice in the road, among other calls.

Luke also is trained to protect Decamp, if necessary, and to search for lost children or Alzheimer’s patients, as well as guns and other objects.

Luke is the sheriff department’s third police dog at a time when other police agencies have cut back on K9 programs. The pair is certified through the International Work Dog Association for both police service and narcotics detection, according to a news release from the Kendall County Sheriff’s Office.

They joined Taz and Deputy Jason Flanders, as well as Ari and Deputy Gregory Shadle, according to the news release.

The Kendall County Sheriff’s Office is the only police agency in the county that has K9 units, so they sometimes are called to help neighboring agencies, Decamp said.

“It really augments our programs,” Decamp said.

Becoming a police dog handler, however, is somewhat of a commitment.

Police dogs are at least a year old when they start training. Although they can be retrained with a new handler, most stay with the same handler for their whole six-to-eight year career, Decamp said. Luke will turn 2 in March.

Luke lives with Decamp and his family, spending much of his time when he’s not working in a 6-foot by-5-foot kennel in Decamp’s basement. He generally spends 20 to 45 minutes in the house with the family, but separation is important for his continued training, Decamp said.

Luke is trained by reward and affection, so too much human interaction makes the reward less rewarding.

“You have to maintain a certain amount of separation; otherwise he loses his work ethic,” Decamp said. “Not to say I don’t pet him on occasion but that’s something we have to maintain with him.”

The sheriff’s K9 officers get at least two full days of training a month, sometimes with the Kane County Sheriff’s K9 officers or sometimes just among themselves.

Luke is considered a police officer, complete with a badge and badge number.

“He’s got a place in our computer system," Decamp said. "Just like anyone else.”