Cook County Sheriff’s K9 Unit

HISTORY: The Cook County Sheriff’s Office have had canines as early as the 1950’s. In the 1970’s the Canine Units were not replaced, as they retired, and the department went without canines until 1993. In 1993, The Department of Corrections brought back Canines to the CCSO, these canines were dual purpose narcotics canines, used in the jail and to assist other agencies. In 1997, The Sheriffs Police Department created a canine unit, with 8 dual purpose narcotics canines. In 1999, court services created their canine unit, with 3 dual purpose narcotics canines, and 1 dual purpose explosive canine. These 3 canine units operated separately until 2018, when the 3 units merged training and operations together.

Currently, there are a total of 25 canines with the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. The Canine unit consists of 5 bloodhounds, 9 dual purpose narcotics canines, 5 single purpose canines, 4 explosive detection canines, 1 electronic detection canine, and 1 therapy canine. These canines are trained by Deputy William Scanlon, who is a certified master trainer through the North American Police Work Dog Association as well as Police Officer Jessica Gatti and Police Officer Pascal Waller, who are working towards obtaining their North American Police Work Dog Trainer Certification.

Patrol Narcotic K9 Teams January – June 2023

US Currency Seized

Narcotics Seized

Total CRs

$1,704,772

Marijuana: 62 lbs.
Cocaine: 3.5 lbs.
Heroin: 155 lbs.
Methamphetamine: 1.6 lbs.
Fentanyl: 3.3 lbs.

2, 204

Narcotic sniffs, area searches, tracking & suspect searches

Patrol narcotic K9 teams are nationally certified through NAPWDA and had an amazing 6 months with seizing multiple millions of illicit currency that is utilized in narcotics trafficking. In addition to providing support to CCSPD, CSD, & CCDOC with ancillary duties, especially in directly assisting with apprehending violent suspects and securing our neighborhoods during Chicago, CTA, and Suburban initiatives. (9) Patrol/Narc K9s, (1) Narc K9 CCSPD Narcotics, (2) Narc K9 CCDOC, & (1) Narc K9 CSD. **