BOISE, Idaho — The Boise Police Department recently welcomed a new officer and his four-legged partner to their K-9 unit. Roki and Officer Matthew Lane have been together for seven months. We got the chance to meet the newest member and rest of the Boise K-9 unit, and one thing is for certain: these handlers and their dogs, even the newest pair, are calm, cohesive, and capable of anything.
"To me, it's the best thing in the world this is the best job that I've ever had here," said Officer Matthew Lane. Lane has been a police officer for ten years, but with a love for dogs and his job, Officer Lane combined the two and has spent the past seven months training with Boise Police Department's second youngest dog, Roki.
"We started off with absolutely zero obedience together," said Lane. Roki came to Boise PD with the very basics, and as a new police K-9 and Officer Lane a new handler, the two have had to put in a little extra work to build a solid foundation together. "We spend every day together, we work together every day, right now he's still a puppy so we do, even on my days off I'm working with him at least an hour a day," Lane comments.
Officer Lane adds having a K-9 as your colleague is a little different than a traditional police partner. "Definitely a different experience having to take your partner home every night, feed your partner, bathe your partner give your partner medical attention when he needs it um… but essentially he's become a part of my family."
The relationship these two are developing just goes to show that dogs can be anyone's best friend. "I absolutely love this dog I have no doubt this dog would put himself in harms way for me."
As for Roki, he serves as a dual purpose K-9 like the rest of the dogs in the unit. He is trained in criminal apprehension and odor detection.
