PSLPD K9 Unit bolsters fight against crime

Published on June 10, 2024

It was an unseasonably warm day in mid-April, but the heat and humidity didn’t stop the Port St. Lucie Police Department’s K9 Unit from getting in its weekly training at McCarty Ranch Preserve.

While the unit’s five working dogs -- Ciro, Ronin, Bodhi, Jaxson and Landi – kept cool in air-conditioned patrol cars, their human partners started getting ready for the afternoon’s training.

At first it was quiet, but then the sound of muffled barks permeated the air as the handlers grabbed leashes, which to the K9s, meant it was time to work.

K9 Ciro, a fawn-and-black colored German Shepherd mix, charges over a stack of blue barrels and scoots through a tunnel with his handler, Officer Michael Bianco, by his side.

“Up! Off! Good off!” Bianco says, praising Ciro as he makes his way up and over a white ramp on the obstacle course.

Now, with his task complete, Ciro gets to tug on a toy with his best friend. “Good boy, yes! Good boy,” Bianco says as he gives Ciro a few pats on the back.

The Port St. Lucie Police Department’s K9 Unit is a team of highly trained police dogs and officers that bolsters the fight against crime in Port St. Lucie and provides protection for officers and residents. The K9s use their indispensable abilities of smell, sight, speed and agility in tracking and apprehending suspects, in locating missing persons, in detecting narcotics and explosives, and in conducting area and building searches.

But the K9 Unit is also a testament to the extraordinary bond between humans and their canine partners, working tirelessly to ensure the safety of the City.

Officer Will Harris has been a K9 officer for 19 of his 22 years with PSLPD. His partner is Bodhi, named after Patrick Swayze’s character in the 1992 film, “Point Break.” Bodhi is a Belgian Malinois.

“The job is exciting and challenging,” Harris said. “But as bad as the job could possibly be at times, you always have that partner with you, your dog with you.”

The K9 Unit trains together for 10 hours a week at McCarty Ranch, working on individual and team tactics, and sharpening the disciplines of the dogs.

“Like a professional baseball player will hit off a tee, we do the very basics when we come out,” Harris said.

The basics include obedience and control work, impulse control, article searches and tracking. Then, the teams work on more in-depth training, incorporating into the mix tactics like real-life scenarios and vehicle extractions.

Currently, the PSLPD K9 unit is comprised of four narcotics and patrol teams and one explosive team.

The Unit selects its police dogs from Metro Dade Canine. Dogs are evaluated based on things like their ability to search and on their courage and tenacity to stay committed to a task, Harris said.

Once a dog is chosen, the K9 and his handler return to Port St. Lucie to take 600 hours of Florida Department of Law Enforcement-compliant training to learn basic obedience, control work, bite and apprehension work, search work and more.

That’s the relationship-building time, Harris said.

“The dogs don’t form a relationship with a human until they come to us,” he said. “That’s a very important part of the process … to build that bond with the dog, solely between the dog and the handler.”

Once the dog certifies, he can begin working. However, the teams are required to maintain a minimum standard of being able to pass a nationally recognized certification every six months for the life of the dog.

Training a police dog never stops.

“We often say it’s the only 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a week job in law enforcement because that dog, that living, breathing creature, comes home with you and you’re responsible for them,” Harris said.

It’s a lifestyle change. So much so that Bodhi joins Harris’ family on vacation.

“He goes everywhere with me,” he said.

Officer Corey Krecic has been around K9 officers since high school when he was an Explorer with the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office. He met their K9 handlers and “they took me in, and I fell in love with it.”

When he joined PSLPD in 2016, he jumped into decoying right away.

Decoys are an important part of the team.

“(Decoys) are like a boxing coach,” Krecic said. “If you’re a really good decoy, you could train a dog and be able to see those behaviors while it’s happening and be able to improve it or shut a dog down.”

Like Bodhi, Krecic’s partner, Jaxson, a German Shepherd mix, is a part of his family.

When Krecic wakes up, Jaxson wakes up. After some obedience training, it’s time to eat. When Krecic hits the gym, Jaxson rests at home. Once they get to work, though, it’s time to hit the streets.

“Hopefully, we can get into something good,” he said. “The best part about K9 is any high priority call, we are there, no matter what. We try to deploy our dogs as much as possible.”

During down-time on shift, it’s more training.

Krecic hopes to be a trainer or assistant trainer. He said he’s already receiving the support he needs to start the process.

“I’ve pretty much immersed myself in this,” he said. “Nothing’s better than being able to find something that no one else can, using a tool, my best friend, and being able to catch that bad guy and seeing Jaxson get excited. Once you do it once, you’re hooked.”

Harris agrees.

“To us, every time we look for somebody and accomplish our mission and find our suspect, it’s the most exciting thing I could ever imagine doing.”