By Heidi Dahms Foster
Prescott Police Department’s newest K9 officer is not new to the job, just the department.
While he grew up with dogs and loved them, Officer Kyle Alltop also spent 10 and a half years in the military, eight of them as an E-5 Staff Sergeant with the U.S. Air Force working dog program. Among his dogs was “Chrach,” an explosives detection dog with whom he served from 2008 to 2011, and deployed with to Kuwait from December 2010 to June 2011.
Later the team was deployed to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and to an event in Chicago with former President Barack Obama where Kyle and Chrach were attached to a Secret Service detail. After Kyle left the military in 2013, Chrach and his new handler, Sgt. Steven Bruner, were deployed to Afghanistan. There, Chrach detected 160 lbs. of explosives and earned the team a Bronze Star. Chrach’s exploits also earned him a statue at Luke Air Force Base, where Kyle recently took a photo with his new K9, Cooper.
Chrach was retired in 2016, and Kyle was able to adopt him. He was a family pet until he passed away in 2018.
After his stint in the military, Kyle tried a few different jobs – insurance sales, post office, Florida Dept. of Corrections, and the Veteran’s Administration Police Service in Prescott. He was looking for something to replace the feeling he got during his service in the Air Force.
“There was the camaraderie of helping people, and working with people who have the same goal in mind. To handle some stressful situations and be able to laugh about it afterwards, then go out and do it again,” he said.
While he enjoyed served as an officer at the Prescott VA, the agency had no K9 program, and Kyle was eager to work again with a canine partner.
After becoming acquainted with Sgt. Jeff Hemphill, who headed up Prescott’s K9 unit, Kyle was able to share his military K9 training experiences, and the two developed a bond. Hemphill was the one who let Kyle know that Prescott was hiring, and Kyle was ready to move to another agency.
He started his service with Prescott in 2017, and was eager to join the K9 unit, but when the first testing opportunity became available, he was just six weeks shy of the required length of service. Finally, a prior handler switched units, and Kyle tested and was hired for the job. Two weeks ago, he traveled to Washington where he met and returned home with his new K9 “Cooper,” purchased from Pacific Coast K9s, and paid for by a generous anonymous donor.
Cooper is a two-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever. He will be a single purpose narcotics detection dog who has been trained to only three odors – methamphetamines, heroine and cocaine.
The passage of Prop 207 allowing recreational marijuana use in Arizona will mean that new K9 narcotics detection dogs will not be trained to detect that odor.
Kyle and Cooper are just getting to know each other and form the bond that will make them effective weapons against illicit drugs, but Cooper is showing that he has a mind of his own and wants to work.
“He really has an independent personality,” Kyle said. “He comes out ready to work, and he really likes people.”
Why a Labrador when most police K9s are Malinois or Shepherds? Labs are actually bred to have the perfect skills for narcotics detection, and many of them are incredibly good at it.
“Labs are bred to find game and fowl several hundred yards away, and retrieve them by hand signals from their handlers. They are independent workers and will cross ponds and ice. They are pretty athletic for their size, they have good noses, and they have friendly personalities,” Kyle said.
He is attracted to Cooper’s determination. “I’ll set up problems, and he’ll think them through and work them out. He’s not willing to quit, and will try all different ways to get as close to an odor as possible, figuring out his footing even if it’s uncomfortable. His alert signal is to stop and stare.”
Working K9s are chosen for their prey, or play drive, and Cooper is no exception. He’s not fond of giving up his toy – he’d rather just keep it, thank you! He’s fitting in well at home with the Alltop family.
Kyle and Cooper are training in-house with local agencies, and with military agencies in the Valley. The pair will certify at the end of the year, but Cooper is already a regular at the Prescott Police Department and in Kyle’s patrol car. “He goes to work every day with me, that’s where we’re setting up training problems to get as much exposure as we can,” he said.
Kyle and Cooper, after certification, will join Officer Kayla Reynolds and her lab Benny, at Prescott Police Department, and the two teams are sure to be formidable in the fight against dangerous drugs.
