The Unit's active duty canine Aur was imported specifically for police work from the Czech Republic. Aur is a 4 year old German Shepherd. The canine team is certified for dual purpose work, which includes patrol work and narcotic detection. Patrol work includes such duties as tracking, area searches, building searches, article searches, crowd control, handler protection and physical apprehension.
Narcotic detection includes marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.
To ensure that the team is performing in a satisfactory manner, the team is certified annually by two of the larger national police canine organizations, the North American Police Work Dog Association and the United States Police Canine Association. In addition to the usual calls for service, the canine team visits schools, senior citizen centers and civic organizations to perform demonstrations for the public. These demonstrations are very well received as this is one of the few times the public ever gets to observe the dog team work. Since it's inception, the canine team has received 406 calls for service. These calls resulted in the recovery of evidence, the capture of subjects, the detection of illegal narcotics and the seizure of vehicles used to transport narcotics.