The Richland County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Unit is a part of the Operations Division and is under the command of Captain M. Prichett and Lt. A. Cox. The K-9 Unit currently deploys eighteen K-9 teams, which is the K-9 and its handler.
The purpose of the K-9 Unit is to provide the citizens of Richland County with trained police service dogs to help locate illegal drugs, apprehend fleeing felons, detect explosive devices and find lost/missing persons. To accomplish this, the unit utilizes eighteen police service dogs. With the exception of one electronics detection dog, all of the dogs are full-service dogs, meaning they are trained in multiple skill sets: drug detection or explosives detection, tracking, patrol. Each dog has proven on numerous occasions to be an asset to the department and the community as a whole.
Each dog must be trained and certified/re-certified in all trained skill sets. As officers must be continuously trained in law enforcement, so must police dogs. Most of the training is conducted by the unit’s handlers and trainer several times a week. The K-9 Unit also invites other agencies to attend training sessions to assist in the training of their dogs, as Richland County has one of the most respected and successful K-9 Units in the state.
Cpl. Gavin Walmsley
K-9 Emy
M/Dep. Jerome Caughman
K-9 TJ
Dep. Kevin Coghlan
K-9 Basco
Dep. Andrew Ellison
K-9 Kane
Dep. Richard Hazel
K-9 Nero
Dep. Zachary Keefe
K-9 Cesar
Dep. John McDevitt
K-9 Titus
Dep. Samantha Ramirez
K-9 Indy
Dep. Jeffrey Rustin
K-9 Sindia
Dep. Christopher Sinceno
K-9 Joppie
Dep. Cody Sox
K-9 Gavin
K-9s Assigned to Specialized Units
Fugitive Task Force
Lt. George Becker
K-9 Rocco
Special Response Team
Sgt. James Abraham
K-9 Denzel
Fugitive Task Force
Cpl. Warren Cavanagh
K-9 Biko
Special Response Team
and Bomb Squad
Cpl. Dan Weaver
K-9 Joris
Special Victims Unit
Inv. Cassie Radford
K-9 Oakley