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Officer Franks and Police Service Dog Spike

Officer Franks has been with the Bellevue Police Department since March of 2004. He has worked road patrol his entire career. In April of 2006 he was selected to be a K9 handler and began a 16-week basic K9 training course, ten of those weeks with Police Service Dog (PSD) Spike. They were certified as a team in March of 2007.

PSD Spike is a Belgian Malinois born in 2004 who had undergone training and was certified in Germany before coming to Bellevue. Spike is trained as a dual purpose canine in the areas of apprehension, narcotics detection, tracking, evidence recovery, and officer protection.

At 55-60 pounds, Spike is the smallest dog on the team. But Officer Franks says Spike's size does not deter his effectivenss as a Police Service Dog. In training, Franks has witnessed Spike take down a 280 pound man.

Officer Franks described Spike as a very good natured dog who is very social and gets along well with other dogs. Spike has already made small drug finds in cars and homes. Officer Franks said this about Spike:

"Definitely his drug work is consistent. He's very intense when looking for drugs. He once found a very small amount of cocaine in a cellophane bag, inside a fire-safe file cabinet. I was very impressed with that. He's a very aggressive dog when he's working but when not working, he's very laid back and social. He knows the difference between being at work and being at home."

Officer Franks is a 2001 graduate of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, with a BA in Electronic Imaging and Graphics. He worked in marketing and web design for three years before becoming a police officer.