Clive police dog Dutch racks up major drug seizures across metro

Dutch has become the kind of working dog that changes how a small police department sees its own reach. The 5-year-old Dutch Shepherd, Clive Police Department’s first-ever K-9, worked the overnight shift with Sgt. Ryan Boies for four years and helped pull in 62 pounds of methamphetamine last year, along with dozens of pounds of cocaine and marijuana.

That haul stands out even more in Clive, where police say about 140,000 drivers pass through the city’s one-mile stretch of road every day. Officers said many of the drugs found there are moving through town in transit, arriving by mail or by car, which makes Dutch’s quick searches especially valuable when suspicious vehicles or packages come across the department’s radar.

Dutch’s work is not confined to Clive. Police said he was requested almost daily by surrounding cities including West Des Moines, Urbandale, Waukee and Windsor Heights. Clive police also said they are the metro’s only overnight K-9 team, a role that puts Dutch and Boies in the middle of the hours when traffic is light, but the stakes can still be high.

In a test search shown by KCCI, Dutch found the target odor on a vehicle in under 30 seconds, then changed body language and started wagging his tail, the kind of signal Boies uses as proof that the dog has locked onto the scent. Dutch turned six this summer, and that matters in a job where police say 6 to 9 years is a typical working span for a dog. His performance now is shaping what comes next.

Chief Mark Raber said Dutch’s success has opened the door to a second K-9 as early as next year, a move that would double the department’s coverage and its ability to intercept drugs moving through the community. The Clive Police Department says its K-9 program is meant to reduce illegal drugs, help locate lost and at-risk people, protect officers and support outreach.

The department’s larger story helps explain why Dutch’s run has drawn so much attention. Clive has 29 certified officers and four civilian employees, and the department is CALEA-accredited. Under former Chief Michael Venema, who retired in July 2024 after 40 years in law enforcement and 12 years leading Clive, the city added a K-9 unit and became the first department in the Des Moines metro to outfit officers with body cameras. Today, with Chief Mark Rehberg in charge and Sgt. Brian Kempnich now serving as Third Watch shift supervisor after starting with Clive in 2004, Dutch’s work has become the clearest proof that a high-drive dog, handled well, can do more than patrol a shift. It can reshape a program.