K-9 Unit - Spike
Spike
is a Belgian Malinois from Holland, born on May 12th of 2004. Spike joined
the Mesa Police K-9 unit on August 3rd of 2007. Spike is trained in patrol
functions such as building searches, area searches, finding missing persons,
and assisting Swat with tactical deployments.
Spike certified PH1, KNPV in Holland in 2007 before coming to
Arizona. Spike is currently working the streets with his handler
John LaFontaine, who has been on the unit for 7 years. K-9 Spike
is taking over the job that K-9 Ully and K-9 Leon had performed
for the past 7 years with Officer LaFontaine. K-9
Kino has been working with
Officer LaFontaine and Spike for the last year.
Spike is an
80-pound solid black Belgian Malinois that loves attention and
playing in his handlers pool with Kino.
Spike located his
first felony suspect on 09-05-2007 after the suspect fled into
the desert and hid from police, two days before being certified
for patrol. Spike has since located a suspect in a shed for
patrol officers and helped locate stolen property from a
commercial burglary, all in the first two weeks of being
certified for patrol duty.
Spike was purchased with monies
donated by very generous citizens and M&I Bank after K-9 Leon
was killed in the line of duty. The funds donated will be used
to purchase dogs and equipment for the K-9 Unit and also to
maintain the training range.
Mesa Police Department
K-9 Unit
PO Box 1466
Mesa, AZ 85211