K-9 Unit

The West Valley City Police Department is honored to employ six K-9s. The K-9s are trained to track suspects, find burglars or intruders, detect illegal drugs, assist in crowd control and locate lost or missing persons. They have been instrumental in apprehending many criminals that otherwise may have escaped capture or detection.

All West Valley City Police Department K-9s are well trained and are certified through the Utah Police Officer Standards and Training Academy. They maintain regular and rigorous training schedules with their handlers. The K-9 Unit is supervised by one Lieutenant and one Sergeant.

Officers & Their K-9s

A police officer applying to be a K-9 handler is making a huge commitment in time and resources to become a handler. The K-9 assignment involves a significant amount of training and preparation time that isn't required by most other law enforcement assignments. K-9 handlers don't just work their full shift with their dogs - they also take the dogs home with them where they become part of the family. Many handlers arrange to keep their dogs after they are no longer able to work the street.

The West Valley City Police Department K-9 Unit occasionally performs K-9 demonstrations for the public. If you are interested in having a demonstration for your community or youth group (because of time constraints we can only entertain groups with fifteen or more), please call the Patrol Section at 801-963-3300.