Welcome Break: Florissant Police K-9s Get New Training Area

K-9 officers Miko, Aresh and Arko now have a new home at the Florissant Police Department to unwind and work out after a hard day on duty.

The Florissant Police Department unveiled its training area for the K-9 officers Friday morning. This marks the first municipal police department in St. Louis County to have such a facility. St. Louis City does have a bigger training area for its K-9 officers.

The training area, which is a 50-by-30 area, will allow a place for the dogs to be kenneled while the handlers are inside the police department or on vacation. It also will provide a place for the dogs to be trained and exercise to stay agile in their duties.

Officer Jarrod Coder who handles K-9 officer Miko gave a demonstration of the training facility to officers and members of the media.

(Check out K-9 Officer Miko running through the training area in our video above.)

“This is fun,” he said during the demo. “This is a game for him. This is a break from work for him.”

The training area will also house two kennels with water pails where they can be kept. Previously, the K-9 officers would have to stay in the car while the officers worked inside of the police department or the police officers would have to make arrangements with a handler if they had to go out of town, Florissant Police spokesman Andy Haarman said.

Mayor Tom Schneider said the facility will allow for the continued commitment of city to the police department to have the best K-9 department. He said the K-9 division allows the department to do many things, as two serve as multipurpose dogs who can do drug searches and search for suspects and the third serves as a bomb dog.

Chief Tim Lowery said the city’s K-9 division is constantly requested in other surrounding cities to help with searches.

The Florissant Police K-9 division has existed since 1986, and it is currently at full capacity with three K-9 officers.