Meet the Clarksville Police Department’s Newest K9 “Dozer”

Police K9 Dozer

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CLARKSVILLE, IN (April 7, 2022) – There is a new officer serving the Town of Clarksville, and this one has four legs. “Dozer” is the newest K-9 officer to join the Clarksville Police Department. “Dozer” came to Clarksville after spending some time with the Seymour Police Department. His partner, Officer Matt Purlee, says he and his wife just drove up to Seymour on Saturday to pick “Dozer” up.

“He’s surprisingly quiet whenever we’re not around him, or when he’s in his kennel,” said Officer Purlee. “I’ve always loved animals and I’ve always though animals are a good way to connect with other people.”

Connecting with people is one of the main reason’s the department chose to ‘hire’ “Dozer” as an officer. Unlike other police K-9’s, “Dozer” is considered a Drug Enforcement, Tracking and Social Interaction K-9, the first of its type for the Clarksville Police Department. Besides performing the normal K-9 duties, he will be a social interactive K-9 that can be brought into schools. Clarksville kids will get to pet and interact with him, something Clarksville Police are not able to do with other K-9’s due to their training.

“What you consider a normal police dog, they’re called utility or patrol dogs, those dogs are often trained in apprehension. They will chase and apprehend suspects if necessary,” said Officer Purlee. “With ‘Dozer’ not having that training, that makes it safer for him to be around and interact with people. ‘Dozer’ is a very social dog and will let kids come and love on him.”

Officer Purlee says he is looking forward to being able to take “Dozer” to various places in the Clarksville community so that he can meet new people, especially at our local schools. He says although “Dozer” will be a great help in combatting crime in Clarksville, he will also be a great tool to teach local residents about law enforcement.

The cost to purchasing a police dog can be $8,000 or more, but Clarksville Police were able to purchase “Dozer” for just $3,000. That funding was made available thanks to donations to the Police Department. “Dozer” is currently going through his certification, which will take about 12 weeks before he is completely certified in drug recognition. Once his training is complete, he will be assigned to active patrols with Officer Purlee.

Clarksville Police Chief Mark Palmer says he is excited to be adding another police K-9 to the department, and he is looking forward to seeing what “Dozer” and Officer Purlee will be able to accomplish together.

  • Police K9 Dozer
  • Police K9 Dozer
  • Police K9 Dozer
  • Police K9 Dozer
  • Police K9 Dozer
  • Police K9 Dozer
  • Police K9 Dozer
  • Police K9 Dozer
  • Police K9 Dozer
  • Police K9 Dozer
  • Officer Matt Purlee