The Sheriff's Office K9 Unit currently consists of three K9 teams: Sergeant Mayo and Bolt, Deputy Henkel and Sacha, and Deputy Lehr and Dodge. Handler's are selected by the Sheriff from a list of volunteers who are willing to make a long commitment to the program.
Testing & Breed
LSO K9s are Belgian Malinois born from healthy bloodlines. All dogs are subject to selection testing before purchase and returned to Nebraska for training by LSO personnel. LSO K9s attend the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center for training in obedience, drug detection, tracking, handler protection, article searches, and building searches or a combination thereof. All dogs are Nebraska state certified annually at NLETC.
Donations
The K9 Unit is primarily funded through donations from private individuals and businesses. Donations are used to purchase new dogs and equipment as well as pay for veterinary care. The Lancaster County Sheriff's Office welcomes citizen and business participation in sustaining this worthwhile program. Donations may be sent to:
Lancaster County Sheriff's Office
Accounting - K9 Fund
575 S 10th Street
Lincoln, NE 68508
Continuous Training
All LSO K9s keep their skills sharp through continuous training. Each week, one shift is dedicated to ongoing training with the LSO and Lincoln Police Department K9 Units. The K9 teams train together and maintain their dogs' talents and skills by setting up realistic scenarios. Each scenario is created to give the dogs the illusion that they are working a typical call. The handlers will take turns playing the "criminal" so that the K9s can perform their tasks. Without this dedicated training, the dogs can lose their skills and not be as effective during an actual deployment.