History

  Established in 1988, our department began the unit with a Chocolate Labrador Retriever, named "King", donated by the Sertoma Club of Summerville. After its handler, now Major Frank Nigro retired this dog, the department authorized three officers to purchase their own police dogs and have them formally trained and certified. The three original teams have now grown into a five Multi-Purpose Utility K-9 Patrol Teams.  Multipurpose title describes the team’s ability for patrol dog work and be multifaceted.  This title encompasses Tracking, Trailing, Article Recovery, Building Searches, Agility, Obedience, Handler Protection and Narcotic Detection teams effectively utilizing their skills and capabilities. This growth in size of this unit directly credited to the success each of the K-9 Teams in our unit. The Summerville Police Department’s K-9 Units specializes in locating and capturing suspects of violent crimes such as rape and armed robbery.  Each team also stays busy as part of their daily duties by conducting vehicle and residential searches in an effort to sniff out the odor of illegal narcotics and contraband.  These dogs also specialize in protecting their handlers from attack while searching buildings and tracking fleeing suspects in wooded areas. These teams are often called upon to aid in the searches for locating missing children and adults such as senior citizens that are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or Dementia who may have wondered away from their nursing homes.

   Summerville Police Department's K-9 Unit enjoys a great reputation throughout the area based on the successes they have achieved. Our department, in partnership with our community, takes a stand against illicit drugs because we know that roughly 70% of all property crimes are the result of the use and abuse of drugs.

K-9 'King'

Summerville's first K-9

K-9 'Cora'