K-9 Unit

Established in 1978 the Amesbury police Department K-9 unit is one of the oldest in the Commonwealth.  The K-9 Unit was founded by Chief Michael Cronin with K-9 Barron.  Following Chief Cronin was Sgt. Kevin Ouellet and K-9 Wess, Detective Richard Poulin followed, handling two dogs.  Detective poulins first partner was K-9 Cujo followed by K-9 barry.  In year 2000, Officer thomas Nichols was assigned to the unit with K-9 Hans.  In July of 2006 K-9 Hans unexpectedly passed away due to cancer and was replaced by the departments current K-9, Kaybar.

K-9 Kaybar is a Slovakian bred german Shepard imported by Amsel Kennels of Akron, N.Y.  In August of 2007, Kaybar was trained at the Boston Police K-9 Academy for 14 weeks with handler Officer Nichols.  The K-9 academy trains the dogs in apprehension, obedience, tracking, building searches, agility, and evidence recovery.

After graduation, Officer Nichols and Kaybar attended the Worcester Police K-9 Narcotic Detection Course for 9 weeks.  The course teaches dogs to sniff for narcotics in buildings, vehicles, luggage, packages, and boats.  K-9 Kaybar is certified to sniff for heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana. 

Since March of 2007 K-9 Kaybar has received his National Certification in patrol through the United States Police Canine Association and his National Certification in Narcotics Detection from the North American Police Work Dog Association.

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