Her kennel name was Autumn but now that she’s a full-fledged member of the Webster Police Department, she’s called O.J. in memory of a former police officer. “O.J. has visited the students at Bartlett High School and the kids love her,” said Webster P.D.’s School Resource Officer Jonathan Brooks. “They were the ones who came up with her nickname. She’s a German shorthaired pointer born in the Netherlands, and is primarily a bird dog.” 

According to the American Kennel Club’s website, this breed of dog is intelligent, boisterous, bold, affectionate, and trainable which probably explains how she came to live at a canine academy in western Massachusetts, where she was trained to be not only a police officer’s valuable asset in fighting crime, but also for search/rescue operations and private security organizations. 

According to Officer Brooks, O.J.’s training included 200 hours of all basic police dog duties including narcotics detection. “We had used the kennel previously,” Officer Brooks stated, “and during our visit to view a potential candidate, each dog is shown after discussing the needs of our department and the type of communities we serve. We observe them going through their basic paces and we felt O.J. had the highest drive and was very good with her alerts.”

Officer O.J. arrived in Webster seven months ago and it was then that the essential bonding began with Officer Brooks. In addition to establishing a daily routine and adjusting to her position in a patrol car, creating a high-level of trust between Officer Brooks and O.J. would be one of the most important aspects of her training. “She’s a fun-loving and gentle dog and is great around people,” Brooks said. “Throughout her academy training she proved herself to be very smart and problem-solved as she adapted to her training very quickly. Her area of expertise is narcotics detection. I remember the first time she was put to the test, she jumped a counter to get to the upper cabinets where narcotics were hidden. She was brilliant. Her training involved every type of environment including extreme temperatures and floor textures like carpeting, tile, vinyl, and unsavory (filthy) locations. She found crack cocaine easily hidden in secret places as well as on humans.”

The Webster K9 Unit is also part of the Central Mass. Law Enforcement Council which supplies drones, motorcycles, SWAT teams, accident reconstruction personnel, and hostage negotiators to police departments as needed. 

“If I’m available, I’ll help with a narcotics situation,” said Brooks. “I’m pretty much on call with O.J.; she’s one of two dogs in Worcester County that is a certified narcotics dog and is capable of doing human sniffing which allows them to sniff out specific scents associated with narcotics.”

This type of animal behavior is not counted as an illegal search for purposes of the Fourth Amendment. Once the dog detects the target odor, it performs a specific behavior known as an “alert” to signal the handler. The alert can be passive, such as sitting or lying down, or active, such as barking or pawing. 

Spending most of her time in a patrol car comes with additional services such as a heat alarm that will call 911 if the vehicle becomes too hot or cold and a window fan to help cool the animal. The cruiser will also sound a siren and its lights will flash if an emergency situation does occur.

For most police narcotic dogs, purchase costs are in the $14,000 range. Webster’s O.J. was donated by Curaleaf, located in Webster, which produces and distributes cannabis products in North America.  Police dogs typically work seven to eight years on average as long as they’re healthy. “We want to give them a good quality of life and we want to ensure they’re taken care of when they need to retire,” said Brooks.

Donations to help support the Webster Canine unit can be made at the Webster Police Department which does have a special donation account. The station is located at 357 Main Street, Webster MA 01570. (508) 943-1212.  Additionally, donations for retired and ill canines can be made to paws4bluek9.com which is located in Palmer and assists police departments nationally with police canines’ emergency medical care, essential equipment, and training.

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