BOULDER, Colo. – The Boulder Police Department is proud to announce its second K9 team has been officially certified and is now on Patrol keeping the community safe.
Officer Taylor and K9 Knox have spent hundreds of hours training to obtain certifications in both patrol work and narcotics detection to be able to find illegal drugs, missing persons and suspects. This extensive handler and canine training included months of classroom work, practical application, scenarios, legal updates, report writing (more for Officer Taylor since K9 Knox prefers to bark or sniff than write), deployment standards, canine behavior, and real-world problem solving.
Much of the training is intentionally conducted in unpredictable and changing environments so the dog can remain reliable in public settings, around distractions, and during rapidly evolving incidents.
“One of the most important things for the community to understand is that Knox is trained to locate the odor of illegal narcotics as well as human odor. Knox is not used to randomly search people or property without justification. Every deployment will comply with constitutional standards, department policy, and ongoing legal training,” Officer Taylor said.
“Additionally, Knox’s capabilities go far beyond enforcement. His ability to quickly locate suspects, clear buildings, apprehend fleeing individuals, or locate hidden narcotics often helps resolve incidents more safely for officers, community members, and suspects themselves. In many situations, the presence of a trained police dog leads to voluntary surrender and reduces the likelihood of force being used. The level of training, accountability, and continual evaluation involved in K9 work is significant, and maintaining that standard is a major part of our daily responsibility to the Boulder community.”
K9 Knox is a 2-year-old Dutch Shepherd and lives with Officer Taylor who describes his personality as curious and playful when training, but all business when it’s time to work. K9 Knox was sworn in by the police chief in January and the team is excited to be serving Boulder.
“Having a full-time drug, tracking and apprehension K9 team in Boulder is long overdue. Previously, when we had a situation that required a specialized K9 team, we might have to wait an extended period of time for another agency to respond to help, delaying our response and investigation,” Boulder Police Chief Steve Redfearn said. “Having Knox and Officer Taylor in Boulder will keep everyone safer, from officers to community members, and will allow for faster resolutions to dangerous situations.”
Thank you to the Boulder Police Foundation for their tremendous support and relaunching of our K9 program. We also appreciate Fort Collins Police Services, which has both a similar community and a well-established K9 program, for their assistance in helping to train Knox and Officer Taylor.
This K9 team joins Officer Donahue and K9 Astro who were sworn in together in June 2023. Their focus is explosives and firearms detection and community engagement.
As Officer Taylor and K9 Knox enter their next phase of field training, they’re unavailable for interviews so we’re sharing these photos and video:
