Pierce County Sheriff's Office Welcomes New K-9 To The Force

PIERCE COUNTY, WA — There's a new cop in town, and this one's extra fuzzy. The Pierce County Sheriff's Department is celebrating the arrival of Brix, a new K-9 who is joining the force.

Brix replaces the K-9 Hanz, who spent many years on the force with his handler Deputy Munson and is looking forward to a well-earned retirement.

The sheriff's department says Brix is a purebred Belgian Malinois, born in the Czech Republic in 2018. Brix ended up making the trip to America because of a K-9 handler exchange program the sheriffs office was involved in several years ago: deputies say they became fast friends with law enforcement officers in Slovakia, who recently heard the sheriff's department was looking for a new K-9 and sent them Brix.

Since his arrival from Slovakia Brix has been training "non-stop" and managed to complete the 400-hour course to become a certified K-9. Deputies say he is already out on patrol and is very excited to get to work. They say he's fast, agile, a hard worker, and tough when he needs to be, but also very friendly and social.

Brix is the second K-9 to be sent to Pierce County from Slovakia, the K-9 Eddie came over from Slovakia as well back in August 2019.