Meet Kiso: The Early Days of the Comanche Police K-9 Unit | KTAB

COMANCHE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – The Comanche Police Department has a new patrolman on the streets. The team welcomed a new K-9 dog to the department, a two-year-old German Shepherd-Belgian Malinois mix named Kiso.

Dog handler Dorthy Cole said Kiso is just like any other dog, having fun chasing his tail and hanging out with his two chihuahuas. She added that while he may be cute, he is a trained detection dog and when they are on patrol, their job is to read signals.

“He’s trained to detect methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and THC. He has to be able to handle the dog and know when he’s high or if he’s just smelling a tree because it smells good,” Cole explained.

As for the fight against drugs, Cole said this new addition will help reduce crime.

“We’re always behind. Equipment can only do so much and our nose can only do so much, but you know we’ve got a pretty powerful weapon here. I think it’s going to allow us to get ahead of the game and stop drugs from coming into Comanche,” Cole added.

Comanche Police Chief Kelly Davis says Kiso was the final phase of a federal Rural Crime Violence Reduction Initiative grant that was received from the Department of Justice in 2021.

“This grant had three goals: the illegal sale and distribution of narcotics, particularly methamphetamine and fentanyl; human trafficking; and child exploitation. It also aimed to increase or improve our forensic capabilities in cell phone investigations and to develop a new forensic computer. We were able to introduce license plate readers,” Davis explained.

Davis explained that they have been able to assist other law enforcement agencies, such as the Texas Rangers, in their investigations with these new tools. While this is the final phase of the grant, the department hopes to apply for another similar grant to continue providing critical resources to Comanche.