St. Paul Police K-9 Officers and K-9s nab National Award for third year

Published on October 10, 2017

For the third year in a row, the St. Paul Police Department’s K-9 unit was named the Top Department Team at the U.S. Police Canine National Patrol Dog Trials in Alabama.

In addition, St. Paul police officer Brady Harrison and his K-9 partner, Eddie, won the top trophy in the individual category, while Rob Vetsch and his K-9 partner, Jessie, took second place.

Jason Brodt, St. Paul police officer and head trainer for the department’s 20 dogs, said the top team award is named after Tim Jones, a St. Paul officer who was killed in the line of duty in 1994, along with his K-9 partner Laser.

“Winning that award holds special significance for our agency,” he said.

Officer Rob Vetsch and his police dog, Jessie, won second-best in the individual competition last year as well.

“Our goal is to be the top department team in the nation,” Vetsch said. “If it so happens that one of us does very well, that’s great.”

The competition has the dogs locate articles with a human odor, apprehend a decoy criminal and demonstrate obedience and agility.

“Jessie is very playful, a very social dog. He loves to do the article search,” Vetsch said, who’s been paired with his police dog for six and a half years. “A dog like Jessie … does it because it’s purely fun. The dogs enjoy it.”

Each year, K-9 partners across the country must get certified by the U.S. Police Canine Association, Brodt said, and the the top five scoring officers and their dogs go on to compete for national titles against other units.

Officers and their partners compete in events focused on obedience, agility, suspect search, evidence recovery and criminal apprehension.

St. Paul’s K-9 unit began in 1958, and is the third oldest unit in the country, Brodt said, adding that St. Paul’s K-9 units responded to 4,000 situations in 2016.

“We’ve always had a strong history,” he said.