Canine Officer

The Ripon Police Department is proud to present the Canine team, consisting of FTO Kyle Prather and his K9 partner, Argos, along with Officer Matthew Brodhag and his K9 partner, Jack.  Both canines were trained by world renowned trainer Markus Maaser in obedience, tracking, protection, and apprehension prior to coming to Ripon.

The Canine Team works patrol assignments in addition to specialized functions such as finding/apprehending suspects, including article, narcotic, building, and area searches.  Both canines are capable of tracking and can be utilized in missing person searches.  K-9 Officers receive 8 weeks of initial K-9 handler training and attend bi-monthly maintenance training with a training facility.  Both officers are frequently training with their K-9 partners while on-shift, as well as with their beat partners, for specific scenarios and situations.

The department’s K-9 Program - usage in drug detection, tracking, suspect searches, and de-escalation has proven to be a valuable resource for the department and community.