Coral Springs police open hurricane-resistant K9 training building

Coral Springs police opened a hurricane-resistant K9 building at 4181 NW 121st Avenue, giving the department’s five dogs seven air-conditioned kennels beside its training area. The June 17 ribbon-cutting put a visible finish on a capital project funded through the American Rescue Plan Act.

The new building gives handlers a dedicated, secure place for daily operations, training and shelter when hurricanes or other emergencies threaten Northwest Broward County. That matters in Coral Springs, where the police department serves about 134,000 residents and its K9s can be deployed in searches, apprehensions and other high-stress assignments. Broward County’s hurricane season runs from June through November, and county and state disaster guidance tells pet owners to prepare early and evacuate with pets or service animals when possible.

City spokesperson Ryan Himmel said the building provides a dedicated, safe and secure space for daily operations, training and shelter during hurricanes and other emergencies. Commissioner Joe McHugh also said the facility will benefit the police dogs that work alongside officers every day. The project frames the K9 unit as part of the city’s core public-safety infrastructure, not as an add-on.

Chief Brad Mock now oversees the department after joining Coral Springs police in 1998 and serving as a K-9 Unit Sergeant, SWAT Commander and captain of Special Operations and Criminal Investigations. That background gives added weight to the placement of the kennel next to the department’s training area, where Coral Springs police say they already maintain a full-time training unit and their own training facility, complete with a firing range and the area’s only simulation house.

The building also reflects a planned investment rather than a rushed response. A 2024 budget report put the cost of a new kennel facility for the city’s police dogs at $640,000, showing the project had been in motion well before this year’s ribbon-cutting. For a department that relies on working dogs through storm season and beyond, the new kennel now adds a hardened layer of protection to the city’s training campus and emergency readiness.