The Waterloo Police Department has recently expanded their K9 Unit. For several years, the K9 Unit has consisted of three K9 Teams. Each K9 on the K9 Unit is trained as a dual purpose K9. The K9's are trained in the areas of narcotics detection, suspect apprehension, handler protection, building searches, area searches and tracking suspects/lost persons.

Over the last few years, there has been a large increase in usages of the K9 Unit. In late January 2014, the K9 Unit expanded to four teams by adding another dual purpose K9 to the Unit. The new K9 is named Jason, and he is a Belgian Malinois that came from Europe, and was born in Holland. Officer Tyler Brownell, a four year veteran of the Waterloo Police Department, has been selected to join the K9 Unit as Jason's handler.

Officer Brownell and K9 Jason are currently finishing up their training here in Waterloo, and will soon be working the street. All purchased K9's are brought back to Waterloo, where the K9 and the handler are trained here in Waterloo by a nationally certified trainer that is on staff at the Waterloo Police Department.

The Waterloo Police Department's K9 Unit is solely funded by community donations. The Waterloo Police Department, and the K9 Unit, would like to thank all of the community partners that have donated money and services to the K9 Unit, making this endeavor possible.

WPD K9 Unit Contact: Sgt. A.W. Farmer