Navajo Police Department adds 4 new K9s to the force

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- Rakky, Gecko, Orcan and Xensi are the newest additions to the Navajo Police Department.

"We had canine units before, in our past Navajo Police Department, so those dogs retired– two of them," said Chief Phillip Francisco. "So, we had funding to get four more, so we have four new canine officers"

The K9s will be trained to detect cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana, but that won’t be their only job.

"We have a lot of missing person searches so we’ll utilize them on that, apprehension and searching buildings," Francisco said. "We’ll use them at the schools. A lot with school resource officers when schools call and need searches."

The police department has seven districts. The K9 officers will be at four of them, including Shiprock.

"The goal is to get one for every police district, all seven of them," Francisco. "So we’ll have that tool available for the officers and community in those areas."