The Haywood County Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit is made up of six K9’s. Our K9s are all trained in tracking, evidence recovery, and narcotic detection. Two of the six are considered full patrol K9s. They are also trained in the apprehension of suspects. Our other four K9s have been used to track suspects, lost children, and elderly with dementia. All of our handlers train a minimum of 10 hours per month with their partners. in 2023, our K9s were responsible for removing nearly 500 grams of narcotics from Haywood County.
Upon approval by the County Commissioners, we were approved to spend drug asset forfeiture funds to purchase an additional K9 unit. On December 8th, 2023, Deputy Mease and his new partner, K9 Bren, graduated from K9 School. It was a special day to announce the name of our newest K9 as “Bren”, in honor of our fallen brother, Deputy Brennan Mehaffey. After the graduation ceremony concluded, we unveiled the new K9 car for Deputy Mease and for Brennan’s parents, Carroll and Nancie Mehaffey.
An additional approval of drug asset forfeiture funds, allowed us to purchase K9 Riley from the Canton Police Department. Both K9 Riley and his partner, Deputy Travis Johnson, joined our team in August, 2023.
