Lincoln Aldermen introduced to new K-9 Unit, Officer Chris Phillips and Diesel

 

[January 07, 2024] 

The first voting session of 2024 for the Lincoln City Council was held on Tuesday, January 2nd due to the Monday holiday. The only action item on the agenda for the evening was the approval of the consent agenda which consisted of the payment of bills and the approval of the minutes from the December 12, 2023, Committee of the whole meeting.

Mayor Tracy Welch read the end of the night announcements, then shared that per the request of the council, the city’s new K-9 team was going to be introduced.

Diesel, a trained German Shepherd and his handler Officer Chris Phillips spent the next few minutes offering the council an opportunity to view the dog and ask questions of Officer Phillips.

Phillips said that Diesel was a young dog, born in Poland and trained for drug detection and officer protection and assistance in the U.S. He appears smaller now that most German Shepherds, but Phillips believes he will grow a little bit more.

On his first day of active-duty Diesel collared a suspect on drug charges, and has been consistently performing since, including on Tuesday when he had assisted with another drug case. Phillips said that the suspect had fled, and Diesel was about to be deployed to fetch the suspect when a foot officer caught up with the person.

Diesel was showing off his youth and energy in the council chambers, lunging and playing around a bit with a ball that Phillips provided.

In addition to Diesels drug sniffing skills his training includes “track to assist in apprehension of suspects or locate missing people” and he is trained to conduct “article searches” which are searches for discarded objects which can happen when a suspect attempts to relieve him/herself of incriminating evidence.

Both Diesel and Officer Phillips are state certified and will have to maintain their certification throughout their careers as Lincoln PD’s K-9 unit.

Officer Phillips was asked about his introduction and initial training with Diesel, did he wear protective gear when he first met the dog. Phillips said the first day he did wear gear, but by the second day, Diesel had recognized Phillips as his partner and had not been aggressive toward the officer after that.

Phillips was asked if the dog had interacted with other officers on the force. Phillips said that Diesel had met some of the officers. Diesel’s training includes assisting and protecting his human counterpart, so the dog is not encouraged to be friendly with all humans.

Diesel is the fifth service dog for the Lincoln Police Department. The fourth dog, Ace retired soon after LDN did a story on him and his handler Officer Ryan Sullivan for the 2023 Animal Stories Magazine in February of last year.

[Nila Smith]