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The Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office picked out the newest member of its department last week that is expected to be ready for service after 12 weeks of schooling.

The K-9, named Chase, is a 1-year-old German shepherd, purchased from a company in the Czech Republic that supplies police dogs, said Sheriff Ryan Shea.

Deputy Kody Needham will be Chase’s handler and will go through the training with him through Code Blue K-9 in Houston County. They are expected to graduate in May at which time he will begin his official duties.

Shea said Chase will be a full patrol dog, which means he will be trained in narcotics, article searches, tracking and apprehension. He will be trained just like the last two K-9s were, with the exception of marijuana.

The sheriff said the value of having a K-9 is two-fold.

He will be valuable as a partner, in that dogs are generally thought of as being worth four people when it comes to manpower, for things like crowd control and getting people to follow commands.

“Then, the value of their nose is infinitely greater than a human’s nose,” Shea said.

The K-9s are also extremely helpful in searching for articles — such as a gun that was thrown into some weeds, Shea said as an example — or if they need to track someone.

“Searching for lost people, searching for criminals to apprehend … it can really help to put a case together when you have a dog,” Shea said.

K-9s are also good for interaction with the public and for public relations, as the Sheriff’s Office can do K-9 demonstrations at everything from schools and service clubs to other events, he said.

Down the road, Shea said he would like to see a second dog added to have an even more robust program.

The expense for Chase was budgeted in the Sheriff’s Office budget, he said, and Chief Deputy Tim Bennett has also applied for a $7,500 grant to help with expenses.

Generally K-9s serve between six and eight years, depending on the health of the dog.

Shea said people can plan on seeing Chase in the spring and maybe even before that, as he may accompany Needham here and there for shorter stints so he gets used to riding in the squad car.

The Sheriff’s Office previously has had three other K-9s, including Stalker, who retired in 2023; Chaos, who was with the department from 2004-12 and another in the late 1990s.