K-9 Unit

K-9 UNIT

Niko and Officer Paranzino

The Portland Police Department K-9 Unit had its inception in 1990 while working under the Connecticut State Police Resident Trooper Program. The unit started with Officer Scott Cunningham and K-9 "Arrow" and was the first municipal police department K-9 team to be trained while under the Resident Trooper Program.
    Arrow faithfully served the Town of Portland until December of 1996. In December of 1996, Officer Peter Paranzino and K-9 "Caleb" graduated from the training program and continued where Cunningham and Arrow left off. Caleb also faithfully served the Town of Portland until his retirement in 2004. As Caleb was leaning towards retirement, Officer Paranzino began training his soon to be successor, K-9 "Niko." Niko came to the Portland Police Department as an 11-month old out of the country of Slovakia. Because he was so young, this training began with the detection of narcotics. At 16 months old, Niko was certified in narcotics detection by the North American Police Work Dog Association.
    Niko then continued training towards a certification as a patrol dog, which was successfully obtained at about two years of age. Since Niko began serving the Town of Portland, he has had several successful narcotics finds along with the usual duties of protecting Officer Paranzino. Niko has also been successful in "tracking" and has "gotten his man" on many occasions.
    Niko is a very friendly dog and loves to show off in front of his fans at area demonstrations. The K-9 team has also become an important link in the safety and security of our local students as schools are randomly searched for narcotics with the complete support of our schools' administrators and the Board of Education.

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