Welcome to the Force: Wheeling Police Introduce New K-9 Officer Sheik
NIamh Coomey Trending
WHEELING -- The Wheeling Police Department officially debuted Sheik, their newest K-9 officer, to the public on Monday.
The highly trained 2-year-old Belgian Malinois will help officers detect narcotics and conduct searches.
Sheik was born in Germany and was transported to Merry K-9 Services in Norwich, Ohio, when she was about a month old. She now lives and works with her handler, Officer Brandon Stanley.
The pair spent eight weeks training together and Sheik learned how to detect the scent of three main narcotics: methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine.
The department bought Sheik with city funds from West Virginia opioid settlements.
Sheik is the fourth K-9 to join the WPD team after fellow pups Jericho and Virgil, who are trained in narcotic detection, and Ozzy, who is trained in detecting explosives. Now, each of the department's four patrol shifts has a designated K-9 officer to assist them.
Sheik has been trained to understand police apprehension techniques and commands and has practiced several illegal drug interaction scenarios. She is also able to follow scent trails and do article searches.
Sheik's skills, and particularly her sensitive nose, will allow her to contribute things to investigations and patrol shifts that other officers can not, Stanley said.
"She hasn't done any apprehension or tracking work as of yet, but that's a tool that she can be utilized for because I won't be able to track somebody if I don't know their location because I can't smell and she can," he said.
In her short time with the department, Sheik has already assisted officers in finding illicit drugs.
"She's already been utilized, she's already helped get narcotics off the street that otherwise might have been missed. Anytime that we can get drugs off the street is a benefit," Stanley said.
Taking on dog ownership in addition to policing does present some additional challenges, he said.
"I'm with her 24/7. So when I come to work I'm with her and even when I'm not coming to work I still have to take care of her and take her outside and feed her and do all the things a dog owner would do so it is just a little more on the plate as an officer," Stanley said.
However after the months-long training and some time already working together in the field, the pair has gotten tight.
"We're already like best friends," he said.