Two new K-9 officers are joining Prince William County police, as part of a push to help the Northern Virginia agency resolve missing and/or endangered people cases faster.
Dory and Sadie, both bloodhounds, are joining the force after starting their formal training in May 2024 and finishing their certification this past March.
Previously, the department had a partnership with surrounding law enforcement agencies, using their specialty dogs to help them in cases involving missing or endangered people. But they weren鈥檛 always available if they were busy working within their own jurisdictions, leading to long wait times.
The change in approach comes as Prince William County has reported a 鈥渟harp rise鈥� in calls for missing and/or endangered people, according to a news release.
鈥淗aving the asset with our own agency is vital, because we don鈥檛 have to rely essentially on other assets that may have upward to an hour, or sometimes even more than that, response time,鈥� Lt. Jonathan Perok said.
The two bloodhounds are sisters and were purchased from a breeder in Georgia that other law enforcement agencies have relied on, he said.
The department still has its traditional German shepherds that handle narcotics and gun detection, but the bloodhounds will be mainly responsible for locating missing people.
Bloodhounds, Perok said, are 鈥渉istorically known to be great for this purpose, and finding scents and locking onto those scents and being able to hone in on that specific scent.鈥�
Time is essential in missing people cases, Perok said, and now that they have their own dogs for that purpose, they鈥檒l specialize in 鈥渄oing those types of searches when we find out folks are missing and it鈥檚 report to us in a quick fashion. We can be able to use these assets to then help find these folks.鈥�
The pups will work with their handlers, master Police Officers Timothy Horn and Richard Bordenet.
And now, the department will be able to offer other agencies the help it once depended on.
鈥淲e have missing folks all the time,鈥� Perok said. 鈥淲e can also now provide that asset to other jurisdictions as well.鈥�
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