Canine Unit

The Rice Lake Police Department K9 Unit was established in 1997. Officer Mike Nelson and his K9 Reggie were the first police dog team to work the city’s streets after completing an extensive, 12-week training program through the St. Paul Police K9 Academy.  Their training included obedience, tracking, building/area searches, agility, evidence recovery, handler protection, criminal apprehension, and drug detection.  

K9 Reggie was a male German shepherd dog who was originally raised by a family in MN and donated to the St. Paul Police Department. 

Nelson and K9 Reggie were instrumental in developing a solid community-oriented program by working closely with the area schools to create a bond between kids and law enforcement.  They were also very successful with locating large amounts of drugs, numerous suspects, and evidence.  Most notably, K9 Reggie located a missing and endangered elderly person in a large wooded area which essentially saved the life of this citizen.  Reggie retired in 2003 and Nelson was promoted to Captain.

During his tenure as K9 Handler, Officer Nelson was active in various specialty organizations, namely:

The United States Police Canine Association (USPCA.)  The USPCA is a national organization of police canine handlers and trainers that set standards for police dog certifications and the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Canine Handler’s Association.  

The Wisconsin “BAD” (Bold and Dedicated) Dogs Police Canine Team was formed in 1993 to help law enforcement agencies train and certify police dogs.  Members of the Wisconsin Bad Dogs are full-time deputies and officers from northwestern Wisconsin.  The officers train together monthly and assist each other with calls.  

Officer Steve Roux was promoted to K9 Handler in 2003, where he was assigned is K9 partner, Morgon, a male German shepherd imported from Slovakia.  K9 Morgon was funded by the Barron/Rusk Drug Enforcement Unit.  Roux and K9 Morgon also completed training through the St. Paul Police Department K9 Academy.  

In January 2009, K9 Morgon unexpectedly passed away at the end of a shift.  He was a fantastic partner during his short life-span winning numerous awards, both regionally and nationally.  He was also very successful with detecting a large amount of drugs, finding multiple suspects, and locating an abundance of evidence.  

Later in 2009, Sergeant Roux was assigned a new K9 partner “Robbie”.  Roux and K9 Robbie also attended the St. Paul Police K9 Training Academy and were training in patrol and drug detection.  K9 Robbie was also a male German shepherd dog imported from Slovakia. He was funded through generous donations from the community and grants from the St. Paul Police K9 Foundation and Agstar Financial Services.

Officer Carroll was promoted to K9 Handler in 2012 with the promotion of Sgt. Steve Roux to Chief of Police.  Officer Carroll took over the handling, care, and training of Robbie, who was the departments third canine. Officer Carroll and Robbie attended the St. Paul Police K9 Training Academy for 12 weeks and became certified in patrol work and drug detection. In August of 2015 Officer Carroll and K9 Robbie left the Rice Lake Police Department. 

In the spring of 2016, Officer Derek Olson was promoted to K9 Handler and obtained K9 Copper from Poland as his partner. Together they attended the St. Paul Police K9 Academy. K9 Copper and the training were funded by a donation from the Law Enforcement Foundation of Barron County and a grant from the St. Paul Police K9 Foundation.  

In January 2018 Officer Eckes was promoted to K9 Handler and was paired with K9 Cuff. 

Our current K9 team, Officer Prinsen and K9 Kash were paired up in 2023. Ofc. Prinsen and K9 Kash are the 6th police canine team that has been a part of the Rice Lake Police Department. 

Nationally, law enforcement canine units save literally hundreds of man-hours yearly searching in a variety of suspicious and high-risk situations, along with assisting in missing person cases.  Because of their extraordinary senses of hearing and smell, canines can search the same locations in a fraction of the time their two-legged partners can.  These abilities alone, free officers for more patrol time and community-policing duties.