NEW BERLIN – The Town of New Berlin Police Department hopes to add two different K-9 units over the next year as one officer finalizes his training and another is just beginning.

Four-year part-time veteran Corporal Robert L. Jones and his partner, a Schutzhund German Shepherd named Bruno, are nearing the end of their training and will be tested for national certification this fall.

In the last 12 months, Bruno and Jones having been working towards certification as New Berlin’s only drug detection K-9 at the Southern Tier K-9 Association’s facility in Binghamton.

Soon New Berlin Officer Thomas Miller, also part-time, will be joining his colleague at the training ground with Nitro, an eight-month-old pure bred German Shepherd.

Both Jones and Miller have dedicated their own free time and money to obtaining, providing for and training the animals. The officers expect to spend thousands of dollars before the dogs earn certification. They must also engage in a constant training schedule during the average dog’s estimated 10 years of service, to ensure their skills remained honed.

“Why am I doing this? We need it, we just plain need it. It’ll make our job of local drug enforcement much easier here (in New Berlin) in the long run. We have serious drug problems in the local community and a dog can make a huge difference,” said Jones.

“I’ve always wanted to be a K-9 handler,” said Miller. “There are a lot of different things they’re useful for, the obvious is deterring and apprehending drug criminals. If people know we have the dog they know it’s an incredible enforcement tool and they know to avoid them,” he said.

Miller explained that apart from criminal enforcement he looks forward to taking Nitro to community and educational events, such as area schools and parks. “As much as criminals don’t like them the community seems to enjoy having a dog around,” said Miller.

The officer said the dogs offered a lot of potential in crime prevention, as an interesting tool in public education as well as criminal deterrent.

Miller said he was confronted by a number of enthusiastic children and curious parents when he took the young pup to the New Berlin Youth Day Celebration a few weeks earlier.