OAK PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) — Oak Park will introduce a new K-9 unit to its police force Monday night at a council meeting where a 16-month-old Vader will be sworn in.
Vader is a Belgian Malinois imported from the Czech Republic.
"He's extremely calm, super social, but he can turn it on so when work mode activates, work mode activates," said Kyle Lawless, a public safety officer and Vader's handler.
He will replace K-9 officer Mace, who will retire in 2025, and will specialize in detecting explosives. Vader has been trained to detect 23 different types of explosive scents and will also perform building searches and tracking.
"You're seeing a big change in the area from narcotics dogs to explosive dogs, and so it's a big push right now with cities," Lawless said.
The new K-9 team is part of Oak Park's efforts to bolster public safety and engage the community.
"Our top priority in all instances is public safety services, so we put that at the very top of our priority list. Anytime we can enhance the department by adding our second K-9 unit now or other programs or services, we're gonna do that," City Manager Erik Tungate said.
Tungate says it will also offer flexibility that they didn't have in that area before. The greater investment in public safety is a direct result of investment in development in the area.
“One of the things that allows us the funding or provides for the funding to be able to go out and do these kinds of things in our public safety department is all of the other economic development things that are happening in the city and that has increased our taxable value quite a bit and giving more funding on the revenue side for the city to allow us to go out and be more unconventional and provide some of these services and programs that we weren’t previously able to do,” Tungate said.
The community can also interact with Vader when he's not working.
