January 28, 2015 - In mid 2012 the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office deployed a new K9 program. The Sheriff’s K9 program was initiated under grant funding and anticipated to enhance Mariposa County law enforcement services in the community.  The Sheriff’s Office deploys two well-trained  Belgian Shepherd (Malinois) male K9s, named Arthur and Zeus. 

The following 2014 annual statistics represent Sheriff’s K9 deployments, where a Sheriff’s K9 is actively used on scene.
The following statistics do not represent the ongoing Training and Scenarios that the Deputy Handlers and K9s are obligated to perform to maintain their skills for certification.

Non-Contact Apprehensions / Give-ups:  21
Non-contact apprehensions represent subjects who gave up or surrendered to law enforcement’s commands and did not resist, or run, due to the K9’s presence. 

Physical Apprehensions:  1

Bomb Sweeps: 10

Building Searches:  13
Building searches represent all deployments into a building during a Burglar alarm or similar.

Area Searches: 24

Tracking:  17

Jail Deployments:  4

Evidence Discoveries:  4
Evidence discoveries represent were items of evidence were located by a K9 that most likely would not have been found without their deployment.

Search Warrants:   7

California Law Enforcement Mutual Aid Missions:  10

Total K9 Deployments for 2014:  122

Mariposa County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Lunquist and his partner K9 Arthur competed in the 2014 Dos Palos area K9 Trials. Brian and Arthur placed Second in Vehicle Search for Explosives and received First place in Building Searches for Explosives.  K9 Arthur also received “Top Dog” in the Explosive Detection for the entire competition.  This competition had participants from several large to small law enforcement agencies throughout the State of California.

Mariposa County Sheriff Doug Binnewies said  “The Sheriff’s K9 program continues to be a great addition to our department.  Our community recognizes the Sheriff’s K9’s value and the enhanced service. The dogs are fun and beautiful but trust me, you don’t want to see their business face.  They are extremely well trained and are good at what they do. I thank the community for supporting the Sheriff’s Office and the K9 Program, I believe all see the program has a force multiplier, which benefits all.”