MANSFIELD — K-9s Turbo and Jax are on the case in Richland County.
Richland County Sheriff Steve Sheldon, who worked as a K-9 handler four decades ago when he was a deputy in the department, introduced the two new K-9 officers and their handlers on Wednesday afternoon.
The department has not had a K-9 officer since K-9 Molly retired in 2020.
“We wanted to (bring back K-9s) about two years ago. We knew we wanted to do the dogs, but because of the COVID and because of the manpower shortage and because we’re training guys, we never really got to the point we were able to until this spring,” Sheldon said.
In May, Richland County commissioners approved acceptance of $30,000 in donations that will allow the RCSO to restart its K-9 program with two dogs through Tri-State Canine Services, LLC, in Warren, Ohio.
Turbo, handled by Deputy Ethan Rogers, is a 2-year-old German Shepherd. Jax, handled by Deputy Alec Mills, is a 1-year-old Shepherd-Malinois mix. Both dogs are from Belgium and both will handle drug detection and patrol duties.
Rogers, 24, is an Ashland native who has been with the RCSO for two years. Mills, 28, is a Columbus native who has worked in the sheriff’s department for almost three years.
Both deputies said they had wanted to be K-9 handlers when they joined the department.
“Absolutely. It’s something I have been thinking about since I was a kid,” Rogers said. “I’m just fortunate that I got the opportunity to go for it.”
The two teams went through the five-week school in Warren and the dogs have been certified by the Ohio Peace Office Training Academy. Both teams have been on the job for a couple of weeks.
“One will be assigned to work afternoons and one at night,” Sheldon said. “They will work opposite schedules so we will have a K-9 available as best as we can. These two deputies are great officers and both of them do a great job.”
In addition to tracking and helping to apprehend suspects, both dogs have been trained to sniff out drugs such as heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, ecstasy and methamphetamines, according to Capt. Jim Sweat, also a former K-9 handler earlier in his career.
That drug work can be done on the street — and inside the county jail.
“When you have a K-9 partner, you always have somebody that’s willing to die for you without hesitation. And that’s very important today.
“But more importantly, a police K-9 is the only use-of-force application that you can recall after deployment. You can’t recall a bullet, can’t recall your taser cartridge. You can’t call back the OC spray.
“But with the K-9s, you can recall (them) back after deployment. It makes it a very useful tool. It’s a force multiplier for sure,” Sweat said.
Sweat also praised the ability of the K-9s to search and clear buildings in a safer and more efficient manner.
“Those are all huge things for us, especially in the rural settings. (It lets us) get out, do our tracking and article searches. So it’ll be very, very important for the sheriff and thank you to him for the foresight that he’s had to let us be to where we are (today),” Sweat said.
Both of the dogs live with their handlers when they are off duty. How does that impact home life?
“Jax is kind of a wild one,” Mills said with a laugh. “So I am just making sure that I get him outside and running him around, playing with him (and) getting his energy out so he’s not so hyper inside.”
The two new K-9 teams are also operating in new SUVs for the handlers and dogs. The cars are equipped with remote door opening systems the deputies can use when a situation requires it.
The remote openers also track the temperature inside the vehicle, allowing deputies to monitor the dog’s environment inside the SUV when the officer is outside of it.
The vehicles also have room to transport one suspect if needed in an area separate from the K-9 space.
(Below are photos and a video taken Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of the Richland County Sheriff’s Office. Two new K-9 teams were introduced.)
