MARLBORO – A 1-year-old Belgian Malinois from Radom, Poland, has been introduced as the newest officer in the Marlboro Police Department.
As 2019 began, municipal officials announced that Patrolman Joshua Abrahamson and K-9 officer Bolo completed a 17-week patrol training program and explosives detection training. Abrahamson and Bolo graduated from the Tinton Falls K-9 Academy on Jan. 4.
Bolo was certified in scent and patrol, according to municipal officials.
The Marlboro Police Department K-9 Unit was created in 2002 with donations provided by the community. The last K-9 unit was Officer Donna Gonzalez and her partner Saber, who retired a year ago.
Abrahamson said Bolo was brought to the United States in August 2018 and was selected as his partner after passing a series of tests. The Tinton Falls K-9 Academy was directed by Sgt. Anthony Turso.
“After approximately 3 weeks, we worked obedience training into patrol work, which includes criminal apprehension, human tracking, building searches and article searches,” Abrahamson said. “Once the foundation was laid for obedience and patrol work, we introduced scent work.”
Bolo is trained to find explosive devices, including guns, and live and spent ammunition.
“Completing the training was a great accomplishment not only for me, but for Bolo as well,” Abrahamson said. “Not all dogs pass the training and if they don’t, they need to be reassigned to a different style of service dog.
“Being a K-9 officer was a goal of mine for my career in law enforcement and I am ecstatic to be able to say I have accomplished it so early in my career. I continue training with Bolo every day on our own and with other agencies to fine tune his skills to make the best of this opportunity I have been given,” the officer said.
Mayor Jonathan Hornik said, “Congratulations to Patrolman Abrahamson on his graduation from police dog training. We are proud to add this bomb detection capability to Marlboro’s already very capable arsenal to keep our school children and residents safe.
“We will continue to evaluate and update all of our police personnel and equipment with the changing times. We wish Josh good luck as he begins this new phase in his career in law enforcement,” the mayor said.
Police officials said Abrahamson and Bolo will be assigned to patrol duties.