JACKSON – Members of the Jackson Police Department recently welcomed two new officers to the force. These four-legged officers won’t have to wear a uniform and they won’t have a rank but both will serve as valued members of the department.
The department thanked Mayor Michael Reina and his administration for their support of the Department’s restored K9 Unit and greeted their two newest additions. Officer Phil Minnisale’s newest partner is K9 “Brix” and Officer Matthew Jamison’s newest partner is K9 “Robbie.”
Both K9s as well as their handlers underwent months of rigorous training throughout the state ensuring the canine’s ability to positively recognize and alert their partners to specific odors in various types of environments.
K9 Brix completed a 16-week course certifying him in Explosive Ordinance Detection (E.O.D.) and K-9 Robbie completed a 12-week course certifying him in Narcotic Detection.
Both K9s and their handlers graduated in September from the New Jersey Transit Police Department’s inaugural K9 Academy under the tutelage of Master Trainer Ed Joos. They were presented with their certificates at the NJTPD Counter Terrorism Training Facility in Orange, in the presence of family members as well as members of this agency.
Chief Christopher Trucillo of the New Jersey Transit Police and Jackson Chief Matthew Kunz extended their sentiments concerning all the graduates and expressed the importance and scope of this program, noting how excited they were to have graduates from NJTPD’s first ever academy.
Chief Kunz said there is “great value” in bringing this program back, as the department has been relying on other agencies for tasks like tracking missing people, drug investigations and preventive work to check for explosives at events.
The last time the department had a K9 unit was 1996. The last officer of the K9 unit retired because of their service age and that led to ending the program.
Both handlers and their K9s returned to tracking school, again hosted by Master Trainer Joos and New Jersey Transit. Upon graduation the teams will be utilized to help track and find missing persons, endangered persons, as well as criminals fleeing from detection or apprehension. Both handlers and their K9s will be assigned to the Investigative Services Division but will work alongside with patrol officers in the field as needed.
The police department expressed a special thank you to the “Remembering Brian Kanterman Foundation” who donated around $20,000 to the department which went toward a police service dog and other supplies for the dogs and handler.
The “Remembering Brian Kanterman Foundation” was founded in honor of Brian Kanterman, who was a “lifelong dog lover” with his sights set on a promotion to K9 officer position, according to the foundation’s website. He died five years ago, at the age of 25, in the line of duty, leaving his dream position unfulfilled.
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