A new K-9 unit began sniffing for the Waterloo Police Department over the summer following several weeks of training, marking the first time the community has had two dogs on the force.

WPD Officer Michael Benda attended six weeks of K-9 unit training earlier this year, joined by his new partner Revv.

Benda has served as an officer for about 10 years, starting out in Brighton before serving six years in Cahokia and then jumping to Waterloo in 2021.

Revv is a German Shepherd who was imported from Poland, having been born Dec. 3, 2022.

The team’s training took place in Michigan at FMK9, with both of them getting acquainted with what goes into serving as a K-9 unit.

Benda explained that, for Revv, his dual-purpose training concerned both patrol deployments and narcotics.

He’s trained to detect and alert when he detects odors of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine as well as related drugs and derivatives.

Regarding patrol, Revv is trained in apprehension with bite and takedown work. His certification comes from the International Police Work Dog Association.

Along with this training, Revv was also required to conduct an article search, finding a set of items in a large area.

Other training included a quarter-mile track – following a trail which was also seeing foot traffic from others – as well as an area search in both a wooded area and a building.

For Benda, training centered around how to make sure Revv is able to do the job to the best of his ability.

“It’s six weeks of training both us and the dog, and a big part of it is learning medical for the dog,” Benda said. “We spent a great amount of time studying all types of medical for the dog, how to treat poison control, how to treat injuries, how to look for signs of overheating or certain medical issues.”

Benda’s training also involved heavily familiarizing himself with 52 U.S. Supreme Court rulings on case law and their dispositions.

Since Revv began working with the WPD on July 12, he has been deployed for narcotics detection 15 times resulting in six felony arrests.

He’s also been deployed a handful of times for tracking purposes.

Benda spoke about what it’s like to work with Revv, stressing how much he and other K-9 units differ from a civilian pet.

“These dogs are extremely high drive,” Benda said. “They’re not like a pet where you could give them toys and stuff in their kennels or in their area. They get so anxious when they’re not working because all they want to do is work. They’ll get anxious and get destructive. You kind of have to be very minimalist with them at home and just constantly work them.”

With that in mind, Benda has been dutiful about keeping Revv occupied these past few months, regularly taking him out to do training exercises by either laying tracks or hiding fake narcotics.

Benda noted that, while he has previous experiences with dogs, Revv still stands out as a working K-9 unit.

“I’ve had hunting dogs growing up,” Benda said. “I know high drive, but they also got to be a pet, and this guy, he does like affection, like, he’ll let you pet him and stuff, but when he comes out of the car, he wants to work.”

Benda also spoke about Revv’s tracking abilities, pointing out he is trained both in suspect apprehension and the tracking of missing persons.

“He’s ultimately a locating device,” Benda said. “He’s there to locate. Locate items that the person might have dropped. More than tracking bad guys, it seems like these dogs are out looking for missing kids or elderly people… He’s gotta be able to do both.”

Benda spoke positively about his time working with Revv so far, describing how it can be somewhat demanding to keep his partner occupied and on-task but nevertheless adding that his time with Revv has been pushing him to be a better officer.

“By far this is the best job I’ve ever had since I’ve had a dog,” Benda said. “It’s so challenging because they’re not robots, and they go through issues… It’s almost like an escape room every day with him to try and figure out different ways to train.”