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LAKEPORT, Calif. — This week the Lakeport Police Department’s K9 officer and his sergeant partner were honored for their graduation from an educational program that expands their crime-fighting capabilities.
The Lakeport City Council hosted the presentation for Sgt. Andrew Welter and K9 Olin at its Tuesday meeting.
Olin is a German shepherd who joined the Lakeport Police Department in the summer of 2021.
Last week, Olin and Welter graduated from a seven-week program with master trainer Frank Romano at Golden Gate K9, said Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen.
Rasmussen said five weeks of the training were focused on patrol work, including suspect tracking and apprehension.
“Olin can enter buildings or vehicles to search for and apprehend suspects. He can also do these things out on open land. He is trained to also call off and return without biting or apprehending,” Rasmussen told Lake County News. “Of course we would only use him for apprehensions when circumstances justified the use of force, such as serious violent felons that are a danger to the community or officers.”
Rasmussen said the other two weeks of the training were spent on drug odor detection.
Olin is now certified to alert on the odor of methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl, Rasmussen said.
“From here on out they have to continue to train one day every two weeks with Golden Gate,” said Rasmussen.
Olin, who turned 3 years old in February, also went through a previous training program. “So for his age he has quite the extensive training,” Rasmussen said.
Lakeport Police’s K9 program, which was reestablished after more than a decade without a dog, has been funded with donations from the Sean M. Walsh K-9 Memorial Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture, the Lakeport Police Department and the community, Rasmussen said.
At the Tuesday council meeting, Rasmussen presented Olin with a badge.
Welter attached the badge to his K9 partner’s collar.
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