Courtesy Photo New Michigan State Police canines and their handlers are seen at the MSP 2025 Basic Canine School on Friday in Lansing.

LANSING — The Michigan State Police (MSP) is pleased to announce that Michigan residents will soon benefit from the services of four new canine teams, as well three replacement teams, that graduated from the MSP 2025 Basic Canine School on Friday.

With this graduating class, the MSP has 42 canine teams strategically placed throughout the state whose handlers answer calls for service 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Collectively, the unit has 61 canines and handles more than 6,100 requests for service annually, making it one of the largest and busiest in the country.

“Our canine teams provide an invaluable service to our police partners and the communities we protect,” Col. James F. Grady II, director of the MSP, said in a press release on Friday. “They cover every corner of our state, whenever the need arises, helping locate missing and vulnerable individuals, finding firearms used to commit crimes and taking drugs off the streets.”

The Basic Canine School is a 14-week intense training program conducted in-house by veteran MSP Canine Unit members. The handlers received more than 500 hours of instruction, and the canine teams covered more than 100 miles on foot as they received training in various disciplines including tracking, narcotics detection, building search, area search, property search, obedience and aggression.

The MSP Canine Unit was established in 1960. Nearly all its canines are German Shepherds due to the breed’s ability to handle the various functions and stress with intelligent problem-solving abilities and a high work drive. The unit provides services in firearm, cyber, explosive, accelerant and cadaver detection, as well as the tactical entry dog program, which provides services to the MSP Emergency Support Team.

The MSP 2025 Basic Canine School graduates include:

~ Trooper Austin Taylor with Kilo at the Alpena Post.

~ Trooper Brendan Gute with Deke at the Cadillac Post.

~ Trooper Michael Clemons with Ruze at the Lakeview Post.

~ Trooper Luke Shafer with Koda at the Tri-City Post.

The MSP 2025 Replacement Canine School graduates include:

~ Trooper Dieter Kochan with Roy at the Calumet Post.

~ Trooper Benjamin Sonstrom with Zorro at 2nd District Headquarters.

~ Trooper Adam Whited with Fenrir at the Houghton Lake Post.