The Lake Mary Police Department’s K-9 Unit provides a number of valuable support services to the agency’s mission. K-9’s are regularly called upon to search for fleeing suspects, perform building searches and to help locate missing persons and property. Our dogs are also tasked with searching for narcotics, and are called upon to support several federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies when there is need. K-9's are, without a doubt, one of our finest crime fighting assets.

K-9 handlers know first hand that a highly trained police dog is one of the best partners a law enforcement officer can have. The dogs are selected and purchased either from local breeders or are imported. Of the puppies bred locally, only about 5% go on to be working police dogs. K-9’s imported from outside the U.S. come from vendors who guarantee they will be healthy and able to pass the basic police dog courses. Those not found suitable for any reason during training are rotated back to the vendor and replaced with new candidates. Often times the human half of a K-9 team will go through several K-9’s before an acceptable partner is found.

These dogs, and training for both the animal and his handler, can cost thousands of dollars. Basic training for the dogs exceeds 400 hours, lasting 8-10 weeks, and is conducted within the tri-county area. The dogs can be eliminated at any time during this period if they are found physically or emotionally unsuitable.

Lake Mary owns two male K-9's which are pure bred German Shepherds and were specially trained for police work, including multi-purpose narcotics patrol and search functions.

"Axel" originally came to the department in August of 2007, when he was 2 years old, by way of Czechoslovakia. He received his National Narcotics detection certification through NAPWDA in April 2008. "Urs" came to the US from Germany in January 2009, when he was 18 months old. The dog's care is provided by his handler, who also shares his home and family with the K-9's.

K-9 cars have been modified with state of the art equipment to ensure the safety of the dogs. Additionally, through generous donations from our citizens and businesses, the dogs wear bullet resistant vests when on duty.