Police Department’s New K-9, Dano, Begins Service in Lakewood

The Lakewood Police Department recently signed on its newest member. He specializes in sniffing out drugs, tracking dangerous criminals, recovering evidence and saving lost children.

Dano, an 18-month-old Belgian Malinois, moved to Ohio a few months ago from Holland to begin his duties as a member of the department’s K-9 unit.

Technically a police officer, Dano, will assist the department in a number of ways as a “dual purpose” K-9. His partner and handler Patrick Mullen trained for several weeks with Dano before they started on patrol together Nov. 16.

The pair is inseparable.

“A lot of this is learning to trust each other,” said Mullen. “We are a team — actually a team. Because of our very specialized training, no one else is able to work with him. He lives with me; we are together all the time. It’s a unique bond.”

Dano has some big paws to fill. Mullen’s last K-9 Robby — a six-year veteran of the department’s K-9 unit, who died last February following a battle with a blood disease — had found untold amounts of drugs, apprehended some dangerous criminals, and tracked down a couple missing children.

“Dano is a great asset and a welcome addition to the Lakewood Police Department,” said Chief Timothy Malley. “He will take over a lot of the good work that Robby did. And he’ll make an excellent addition to the community as well. You can’t ask for more.”

The city was able to buy the newest addition to the K-9 unit thanks to donations from a group of second-graders at Hayes Elementary School and an anonymous donor, who initially agreed to pay for half, and later decided to cover the entire $15,000 cost.

“This is the sort of thing that brings the community together,” said Malley.