Officer Wes Moore is another one of our K-9 handlers who doubles as a member of the SWAT unit. In addition, he also specializes in being a SWAT sniper. Before joining K-9 in 2006, he worked in the Strike Force Drug and Firearms Unit and the Bike Unit. ” I LOVE working with K-9’s”, says Officer Moore, “I like the work they do, going out tracking and searching for ‘bad guys’.” Officer Moore wants to continue to learn all he can about being a K-9 handler so that he can hopefully begin to train others.

His original partner Sabot has retired, who was his 7 1/2 year old Malinois Patrol K-9. They were partners for 6 1/2 years. His new partner is Diesel (shown to the left). Diesel became his partner in June 2014, and they look forward to keeping the streets of Richmond safe together.

Master Trainer and K-9 Officer Robin Robinson has been on the Richmond Police Force for 20 years. She has been a part of the K-9 Unit for 15 years. In her police past, she has worked on Patrol, Youth Interdiction Unit, Hinet Unit (street drugs) and an auxiliary rider for the Mounted Unit.

She loves K-9 work because, “it is so gratifying to be able to work as a K-9 team and find narcotics on the streets”. As a Master Trainer, her goal is to be the best trainer/handler she can be and assist others with become the best handlers they can be. Her biggest wish for the K-9 is to see a new Unit Building.

Officer Robinson’s K-9 Partner is Sara. Sara is a 3 year old Belgian/Malinois Mix and they have been partners since 2011. Sara is a narcotics K-9 and is proud of her recent find of five Kilos of Cocaine.

Officer “AJ” Jackson has the most attention grabbing job in the Unit. His partner, Knick, is a Bloodhound. Knick is popular with the people because this is one of the K-9 Unit’s dogs that you can actually touch. Unlike the Patrol Dogs and Narcotics Dogs, Knick is trained to socialize along with his tracking abilities. His specialties are sniffing out the bank robbers from dropped phones, articles of clothing and anything else that he can track the robber’s scent. He also finds missing people and evidence to be used in court.

Officer Jackson travels internationally to train other Handlers as far as Switzerland and helps to train other Bloodhounds nationwide.

After losing his beloved K-9 Partner, Koda, Officer Agee was blessed with a second exceptional K-9,Phantom. Phantom is a 18month old German Shepherd who has become a really great Police Partner. “It feels really good to take a green K-9 and then to do some training, then go to work the street and watch them work and catch criminals”, he says. Before Agee became a K-9 Officer, he worked patrol in the 1st Precinct and worked in the Bike Unit. After that he was assigned to the Uniformed drug unit before being transferred to K-9. Officer Agee wants to become a K-9 Trainer and he is definitely on his way to being a great one.

Fred Bates, a Virginia Military Institute graduate, has been working with the Richmond Police Department for 17 years. A former Narcotics Detective and Former Narcotics K-9 Handler, Officer Bates is working with his new dog,Gunny, and has graduated and certified in Patrol K-9 School and has hit the streets as a Patrol K-9 Handler and K-9 Partner. “I love seeing a brand new dog that knows nothing except to be a dog get trained and become a police dog that helps put the bad guys in jail”.

Officer Bates hopes to bring more public attention to our K-9 unit and show what our dogs can do to protect the citizens of the Richmond Metro Area.