K9 Unit

Haddie

Haddie has been working for YCSO for 6 years.

Jett

Jett has been working for YCSO for

The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office K9 Unit is a criminal interdiction unit that focuses on highway interdiction on the interstates running through Yavapai County.

This specialized unit looks for criminal signs of narcotic and human trafficking, as well as illegal weapons smuggling. This is primarily accomplished by taking traffic enforcement action to initiate contacts with motorists. The K9 Unit also deploys into and around communities and assists with school inspections to identify and disrupt criminal activity.

The K9 unit also assists other law enforcement agencies in Yavapai County to help with local traffic stops and criminal enforcement. The unit is comprised of three K9 Deputies, one Detention K9 Deputy (assigned to the Yavapai County Detention Facility to assist in to assist in maintaining order and detect any contraband attempting to be smuggled into the detention facility), a volunteer, and a K9 Sergeant.

Our K-9 Unit is an incredible asset to the sheriff's office and the citizens of Yavapai County. Each handler team - a deputy and a K9 - participates in a new handler academy when they come into the unit. Once they meet performance standards, they become certified and must maintain this certification through annual re-certification to be able to continue to deploy. Following certification, each handler team also participates in ongoing in-service training so to ensure performance standards are consistently met.

In addition to supporting our patrol, investigations, and detention divisions, the K9 Unit frequently attends various public events regularly partners with schools throughout Yavapai County to assist with school inspections in an attempt to identify any current criminal activity taking place as well as dissuade future potential criminal conduct from taking place on the school campus.

Yearly, the YCSO K9 Unit confiscates hundreds of pounds of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, marijuana, and fentanyl as well as illegal weapons.

The K-9 Unit's handler teams are constantly working to maintain their proficiency, take self-initiated action to   detect and apprehend criminal offenders, and support other bureaus within the sheriff's office in a professional manner that meets the expectations of the community it serves.