‘A force multiplier:’ EPSO’s newest K9 Mako and handler to patrol the streets

(EL PASO COUNTY, Colo.) — The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office (EPSO) has selected a deputy to be a new K9 handler, and it is welcoming a new member to the office.

K9 Mako was gifted to EPSO by the Fountain Police Department after its previous handler moved on. Mako is a German Shepherd obtained through the Shallow Creek house and is from the Czech Republic. K9 Mako will join the newly appointed K9 Deputy Dakota Richardson.

“It’s a competitive process involving a PT test and a board testing your knowledge of K9s and our K9 policy, as well as K9 case law,” said Deputy Richardson. “Through that process, I was selected as the new K9 handler by Sheriff Roybal, and I couldn’t be more excited.”

Richardson is not a stranger to K9s; his grandfather helped train police dogs in Northern California, with many being German Shepherds. “I fell in love with the dog breed then as well as just the process of training them and seeing how useful they can be,” Richardson added. He also shared that the first time he took a bite from a pup was when he was 12.

And right around the same time, he discovered he wanted to be a K9 handler. For the past seven years, Richardson has volunteered as a K9 decoy, where he helped set narcotics and tracking runs for the dogs. He said he’s also taken different bites from the K9s at EPSO. He has worked patrol for the sheriff’s office for six years.

“Mako is a force multiplier, all of our K9s are,” said Richardson. “We do a dangerous job, we all know that, the ability of them to detect narcotics as well as deter crime is the same as ten deputies. With that dog out there, we can search a field ten times faster, we can search buildings ten times faster, and they help to keep us a lot safer while we are out there, as we saw through the usage of K9 Jinx.”

K9 Mako will be a jack of all trades, Deputy Richardson said they will be out on the road patrolling, and sometimes will help at the jail. Mako has helped previously in Fountain and found many narcotics.

“I’m looking forward to building on what he’s already developed,” Richardson added. “I’m very excited to see how we can further those abilities. He’s very good at narcotics, he enjoys working with that, and he is a very driven dog, so in the future we’ll be working on that.”

Once Mako completes training, he will be on an on-call schedule and be called whenever needed.

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