The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office has continually provided K9 services to the residents of Franklin County since 2001 when then Deputy Nathan Bean and K9 Ben graduated from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.  Visitors and citizens of Franklin County, Deputies from Franklin County, local police departments, neighboring local and county law enforcement, the Maine Warden Service and the Maine State Police all benefit from having our K9 units available to provide services.  Those services include:  locating evidence at crime scenes; tracking criminals from crime scenes; locating lost children, adults and wandering elders; locating hidden narcotics; providing an additional level of officer protection during confrontations; and providing countless school visits and public demonstrations as ambassadors of the Sheriff’s Office.   In 2005, due to the number of K9 calls, a second K9 was added when then Deputy David Rackliffe and K9 Odin graduated from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.  In 2006, Chris Chase was hired and brought his already certified K9, Jack, with him.  K9 Ben was retired in 2008 and Nate Bean returned to school with K9 Diesel.  Nate achieved K9 trainer status with the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in 2011.  K9 Odin was retired in 2012 due to health reasons. David then trained K9 Justice through the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.  David achieved assistant K9 trainer status in 2012. 

Since 2015, Sergeant Nathan Bean and Lieutenant David Rackliffe have been offering K9 training to other area agencies.  We have been joined by Somerset and Oxford County Sheriff’s Offices and in September, we graduated our first two K9s trained in patrol functions.  Sgt. Bean and his new K9, Bain, a Dutch Shepherd and Somerset Corporal David Cole and his Belgian Malinois K9, Kojo were certified through the Maine Criminal Justice Academy.  In October, we began a K9 school for narcotic detection for K9’s Bain and Kojo and were also joined by Oxford County Deputy Stephen Witham and his K9, Samson. 

A K9 Patrol School involves 480 hours of training.  During those hours, the K9’s and their handlers learn to track people on all types of ground surfaces; locate evidence at crime scenes; locate people hiding in buildings; locate lost children/adults and wandering elders; provide officer protection as a use of force option and spend a great number of hours on obedience, which is a critical element of a successful Police K9 Team.  You will frequently see our trainers, handlers and their dogs training in and around the Farmington area.

A K9 Narcotic School involves 320 hours of training.  The K9s and their handlers learn how to locate hidden narcotics in various places, including buildings, automobiles, other means of transport such as busses and trucks and hidden on people.  The K9s are trained to indicate to the odor of narcotics with a passive indication.  Some of the pictures posted here show a white wall with holes.  You will see the dogs poking their nose into the holes searching each one for hidden narcotics.  This is the beginning stage where the K9s learn to locate the narcotics.  Once the K9s can successfully and accurately locate narcotic odors on this wall, they will be trained to find narcotics wherever they can be hidden.