Title
Introduction to K9 Bloodhound Joie
...History
The Orland Park Police Department expanded its K9 unit to add a specialized bloodhound specifically for missing persons, evidence recovery, and offender tracking. The purpose of this selection of the Blood Hound was to answer the department’s growing need operationally. The Village has several senior memory care facilities, seventeen grammar schools, high school, retail establishment and a large residential population. The Villages need for a search, trailing and rescue dog increases every day.
The OPPD teamed up with Public Safety Dogs in April to identify a K-9 that would fit the needs of the Village of Orland Park.
Vulnerable Senior Support: The Village features multiple senior memory care facilities. Individuals with dementia or Alzheimer's are prone to wandering, making immediate, high-precision scent-tracking capabilities lifesaving.
School Density & Child Safety: Managing safety across seventeen grammar schools and a major high school poses a high operational demand. Bloodhounds are premier tools for quickly resolving cases of missing children or children with developmental disabilities (such as autism) who wander.
Unrivaled Scent Trailing: Unlike traditional patrol dogs, bloodhounds possess up to 300 million scent receptors. They can follow a specific person's "scent picture" for days across long distances and heavily paved suburban environments, effectively mitigating risks before negative outcomes occur.
Joie came to the OPPD through the Public Safety Dogs program in North Carolina. Joie is a black & tan purebred bloodhound. Joie was born on 11/20/2025 in South Carolina. She was trained by Mike Craig and has been imprinted in Man Trailing. She is capable of locating lost adults, children and fleeing suspects.
...Financial Impact
None
...Recommended Action/Motion