A 15-month-old German Shepherd was sworn in to the Buffalo Grove Police Department as the department’s fifth canine in history, officials said.
Canine Mac was sworn in Monday during a village board meeting.
Mac and his handler, Officer Shannon McMillon, recently graduated from an eight-week basic training and certification process at TOPS Kennel in Grayslake.
They will begin service with the Buffalo Grove Police Department immediately.
The basic training included sessions on patrol techniques, handler protection and narcotics detection.
They were also trained in tracking and locating criminal suspects, endangered missing persons and conducting searches in different environments.
Police officials said the training program helped strengthen the critical relationship between Mac and McMillon.
The training is familiar to McMillon, who worked as a full-time canine trainer at TOPS Kennel prior to joining the Buffalo Grove Police Department in 2014.
Mac and McMillon will continue regular maintenance training and additional certifications. They will also be trained in cadaver searches later this year.
Jody Page from Page’s Healthy Paws is donating Mac’s food, police officials said.
Other future expenses related to the canine unit, such as medical care, will be funded between grants and asset forfeiture money seized from narcotics busts.
The department’s canine program was established in 1996 with Canine Grimm and former Officer Dean Schulz.
McMillon and Mac are the fifth canine unit to support the Village of Buffalo Grove and are “eager to begin their journey together and add value to the Department and community,” the department said.