St. Augustine Beach police introduce new K-9 for narcotics work and missing-person searches

Mayor Beth Sweeney and Chief Carswell announced that the City of St. Augustine Beach Police Department has added a new K-9 to its unit, a nearly two-year-old Belgian Malinois acquired with help from Grassroots K9 and funded largely by the nonprofit Friends of Saint Augustine Beach.

Chief Carswell said the department had been without a K-9 since Kilo, the prior dog, 'passed away' a couple of years ago and the department and community had sought the right replacement. 'It's something that the community's really wanted,' he said.

The new dog will be single-purpose, assigned to narcotics detection and tracking, and the handler is undergoing training that Chief Carswell estimated will take about six weeks before the team is deployed on patrol. 'So the primary use is narcotics detection,' he said, and he emphasized the value of tracking and search-and-recovery for local missing-person cases.

Chief Carswell told listeners the department responds to 'about 25 to 30 missing persons per year' ranging from children who wander off on the beach to Alzheimer’s patients; having a local tracking K-9, he said, reduces delay by avoiding the need to wait for St. John's County Sheriff's Office to respond.

The department partnered with Grassroots K9 to identify and acquire a dog suited to the community and the handler; Chief Carswell said staff visited several providers to find the right temperament and match between dog and handler. He added that Friends of Saint Augustine Beach provided 'a large majority of the funding' to offset taxpayer costs.

Mayor Sweeney closed by inviting residents to meet the K-9 at upcoming community events and said the department will feature the team on a future 'Mondays with the mayor.'