K9 Unit

The Dane County Sheriff K-9 Unit currently has five deputies and a supervisor. Deputy Brian Biwer, Deputy Jay O’Neil and Deputy Keith Kelly have patrol dogs crossed trained in narcotic detection. Deputy Tony Enger has a search and rescue dog trained in cadaver search and underwater body recovery. Deputy Scott Lindner has an explosive detector dog. Sergeant Carl Koehler is the Unit supervisor.

The K-9 Unit responds to requests for service in and out of Dane County. No fee is charged to law enforcement agencies or school districts within the county. Agencies outside of Dane County may request K-9 assistance by mutual aid and are charged for the handler’s wages and expenses.

Each handler is required to certify annually with the North American Police Working Dog Association (NAPWDA). This certification insures that criminal and civil courts will recognize the dog teams to be proficiently trained in their respective specialties.

For Deputy Jay O’Neil and Dino, 2005 was arguably one of their most productive years of their K-9 careers. In January, they assisted the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force on a search warrant of a residence where over 61pounds of marijuana was located. Additionally, Deputy O’Neil located eight suspects on tracks or area searches.

In April, Deputy Tony Enger retired K-9 T.J. after a ten-year career as the Unit’s search and rescue dog. Deputy Enger’s new K-9 partner is a two-year old Labrador retriever named Milo. They assist with lost or missing person calls, cadaver search and underwater body recovery and are sometimes requested by the FBI and Department of Criminal Investigation.

Deputy Scott Lindner and his K-9 partner Dani are the Unit’s explosive detector K-9 team. They respond with the Explosive Ordinance Demolition (EOD) team when suspicious items are identified. They are also deployed for routine sweeps at the Dane County Regional Airport. Additionally, the Secret Service includes Deputy Lindner and Dani as part of their security detail when the President or Vice-President visits Madison. He has also done detector work for the FBI and ATF.

Deputy Keith Kelly and Deputy Brian Biwer have Patrol dogs cross-trained in narcotic detection. Deputy Kelly serves NE Dane County while Deputy Biwer is assigned to the Dane County Jail.

For the year, there were 487 requests for K-9, which represents a 9% increase from 2004 totals.