Sartell's Canine Officer Echo Celebrates One Year Of Service

SARTELL (WJON News) -- A local police officer is celebrating a special anniversary on the force. The Sartell Police Department's dog Echo is celebrating his one-year anniversary in June. Echo specializes in tracking, apprehension, and narcotics searches.

Paul Habstritt, WJON

PHOTO courtesy of Officer Curt Grosz/Sartell Police Department.

Echo's handler and partner, Officer Curt Grosz, says having Echo on the team is invaluable:

"To be able to have the dog on scene within a reasonable period of time is a great resource to have. In addition, having our officers who are familiar with the canine, being familiar with how he works and how he functions, really kind of open things up as far as providing us for opportunities to use Echo in those multiple capacities."

Echo was Born in 2021 in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Grosz says Echo helps all over the area, assisting other agencies that don't have their own canine officer.

Paul Habstritt, WJON

It's not all work for Echo. He enjoys playing with his family, fetching, and relaxing outside during his off time. Grosz says they have fun at home, but they also have to constantly train together:

"All of that training becomes my responsibility so day to day training and upkeep with, as far as, obiedence and all those other things that I had mentioned previously are all things that I need to keep and instill in Echo as time goes by and things change, right, we adjust things as we go and as Echo matures as a dog and myself as a handler."