Canine

The Sault Ste. Marie Police Service Canine Unit was established in 1998 and currently has one handler and two, dual purpose Police Service Dogs (PSD).  Constable Dan Turco currently works with PSD “Hektor” and PSD "Justice". Hektor is a Belgian Malinois and Justice is a German Shepherd.

Police Service Dogs are chosen for their physical ability, strength, and intelligence.  A strong temperament is very important as these dogs are often expected to perform in stressful situations.  Police Service Dogs are trained in tracking, searching for missing persons, area and building searches, searching for evidence, suspect apprehension and detection of narcotics and firearms.  Our Canine Unit is on-call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

The Canine Unit is part of Patrol Services and works closely with the Emergency Services Unit and responds to calls for service similar to uniform patrol officers.  In addition, the Canine Unit will assist in as many priority calls as their availability will permit including alarms, serious domestics, suspicious persons, warrant execution, and all instances in which canine support has been requested.

While these are highly-trained and assertive animals, they are able to interact with the public. Cst. Turco, Hektor and Justice attend many public functions and school presentations each year to educate our community on the capabilities and importance of these highly trained canines.