Essex County Sheriff Planning ‘Shared Service’ K9 Task Force

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The Essex County Sheriff’s Office is going to the dogs… and it’s municipal police who will benefit, officials say.

Earlier this week, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office announced plans to roll out a new, “shared services” K9 task force, possibly as soon as January 2020.

Sheriff Armando Fontoura said that the proposed K9 task force would function similar the shared services public safety network already employed by the county with its Bureau of Narcotics, Office of Emergency Management and Office of Homeland Security.

“Our department has previously trained thousands of first responders in emergency management and homeland security response techniques and in the target-hardening of our critical infrastructure,” Fontoura continued. “We’ve also trained scores of local police departments in the latest narcotics investigating skills. Turning our attention now to a K9 task force should be a manageable and successful matter.”

“With the threats we face today from home and abroad it is time to bring our municipal police departments up to date and have those departments participate in what can only be viewed as a win-win situation for all,” Fontoura concluded.

The Essex County Sheriff’s Office K9 unit was established in 1987.

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