MURFREESBORO, Tenn (WTVF) — Middle Tennessee State University Campus Police just got an extra set of hands -- or should we say paws. The force welcomed its first-ever K-9 officer, Bobby.
Bobby is just over a year old and is a Belgian Malinois-German Shepherd mix. Born in Hungary, the dog was trained by Southern Coast K9 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Bobby is a dual purpose K-9 trained to sniff out drugs like ecstasy, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana.
Officer Zach Brooker is Bobby's handler. Brooker spent time in Florida to train with Bobby before bringing him along on the force. Brooker said Bobby's main purpose is to sniff out any drugs on campus, saying Bobby gives the department the ability to literally track drugs right down to the room.
Brooker says Bobby will play a key role in MTSU's mission of being a drug-free campus.
"If that deters people from bringing drugs on to a zero-tolerance campus than that’s mission accomplished from our stand point," said Brooker.
Brooker said K9 Bobby will not be used for intimidation or for crowd control, but he can be used for criminal apprehension as a last resort.
"He’s super smart super high drive but he still has some puppy tendencies," said Brooker.
Bobby does love his down time to play and say hi to greeters, but Brooker says the pup also knows when it's time to get serious and get back to work.
The department tells us an an anonymous donor is buying Bobby a bulletproof vest.
