EAST GREENWICH TOWNSHIP POLICE DEPARTMENT
K-9 UNIT

Patrolman Matthew Brenner Canine Kliff	East Greenwich Township Police K-9 Unit Patch (click on graphic to see larger view)
The East Greenwich Township Police Department's K-9 Unit was established in June, 2004. With the assistance of the Township's residents and business owners, the East Greenwich Police Department was able to establish and initiate the single-team unit. To this date, the K-9 Unit consists of one canine handler, Ptlm. Matthew Brenner, and one canine, "Kliff," both comprising the first K-9 team in East Greenwich Township in over 20 years. The singular K-9 team is currently under the direct supervision of Detective Sergeant Chris Everwine, and is overseen by the Department's Administration.

Canine Kliff was carefully selected and purchased from the Connecticut Canine Services, who imported Kliff from the Czech Republic,where he was bred from a long line of working shepherds. Kliff was born in March of 2003, and was not paired up with Ptlm. Brenner until the age of 13 months. Prior to the selection of Kliff, he had to go through a very thorough medical exam, and field demonstration where he showed basic bitework ability, along with retrieve skills. Ptlm. Brenner and Kliff went through 6 months of training at the Philadelphia Police K-9 Training Academy which commenced June, 2004. Ptlm. Brenner and Kliff took part in 14 weeks of Patrol training, and 10 weeks of Narcotics Scent Detection Training.

The Patrol portion of the canine training consisted of obedience, agility, tracking, article searches, building searches, criminal apprehension, and handler protection. Upon completion of this portion of patrol training, Kliff (handled by Ptlm. Brenner) was able to locate suspects or missing persons through tracking, locate evidence through article searches, find a hiding suspect inside a building, and can apprehend a suspect that has committed a felony crime. Kliff is able to complete many of these tasks on-lead and off-lead using basic obedience commands given by Ptlm. Brenner. Kliff was trained in agility tasks such as jumping over hurdles and through windows, climbing ladders and catwalks, and crawling through tunnels and under low lying areas. This type of training gave Kliff the experience and allows him to adapt to many obstacles in the field, and getting through rigorous environments and to places that Ptlm. Brenner cannot.

The Narcotics Scent Detection Portion of Kliff's training commenced in October, 2004. Kliff, while handled by Ptlm. Brenner, was trained and is able to detect 6 different narcotic odors. The 6 narcotic odors include: Marijuana, Cocaine, Crack, Heroin, Methamphetamine, and MDMA (ecstacy). Scent detection training took place in various locations to give the K-9 teams a more realistic training experience. Police Canine's trained in Scent Detection are typically trained to be either a passive indicator or an aggressive indicator. A passive indicating dog will "sit" once the dog has detected the odor of narcotics. Kliff is trained as an aggressive indicating dog, which means he will scratch and bite at the area where he detects the odor of narcotics. Ptlm. Brenner and Kliff have conducted over 200 drug searches in training alone, and continue to conduct several drug searches a week while on patrol.

While being trained at the Philadelphia Police Academy, Kliff resided at the Kennels on the training site, but since his graduation with Patrolman Brenner, Kliff comes Home With Ptlm. Brenner after every shift. Kliff has been treated as another officer of the East Greenwich Police Department, as he has his own badge, badge number, and bullet proof vest. While on patrol, Kliff is always ready to work when called upon, but when his shift is over, he also enjoys playing fetch with the ball and relaxing around the house.