Windsor Police Department Welcomes New K9 Unit
The Windsor Police Department is dedicated to protecting and serving the community in many different ways, including building relationships with residents, enforcing the laws, and keeping the northern Colorado town as safe as possible.
Recently, the department announced the addition of two new employees, who are bound to be major assets to the law enforcement agency.
In a press release last week, it was revealed that the local police department has just created a brand new K9 Unit. The K9 Unit consists of two dogs, two handlers, and a supervisor.
The first team is Officer Marshal Allen and his K9 partner Xaros, a 16-month-old male Belgian Malinois. Officer Allen has been with the Windsor Police Department for the last 6 years.
The unit's second team is Officer Clara Steingart and her K9 partner Zuma, an 18-month-old male German Shepard. Officer Steingart has been a Windsor Police Officer since 2018.
Both Xaros and Zuma were brought to Colorado from Poland. According to the police department, the two puppies will spend the next month bonding with their human companions, before attending the K9 academy in January.
Zuma and Xaros will be trained as dual-purpose K9s, meaning that both dogs will be certified in narcotics detection as well as criminal apprehension. Just like human officers, K9 teams respond to violent calls, building searches, fleeing subjects, searches for missing, lost, or endangered children or persons, and narcotic calls.
K9 units are extremely valuable to the departments they work with. In fact, it's estimated that each K9 team can save somewhere between 800 and 1,000 man-hours per year.
The Larimer County Sheriff's Department also has a hard-working K9 U.nit, consisting of eight dog/handler teams.