Douglas County sheriff adds first threat mitigation K-9 Bodhi

A new English Springer Spaniel has joined Douglas County’s courthouse security detail, giving the sheriff’s office its first threat mitigation K-9 and adding another layer of patrol coverage at the county’s busiest public buildings. Bodhi is working with Deputy Johnna Kripal to help secure the Douglas County courthouse and civic center.

For residents coming to county buildings in Castle Rock, the change is likely to show up in a very visible way: a K-9 team moving through lobbies, hallways and public spaces as part of routine patrol and threat detection. The sheriff’s office says its dogs are trained not just for visible deterrence, but for the kind of tasks that shape how public facilities are screened and cleared, including searching for drugs, tracking humans, arresting suspects, clearing buildings and taking part in public demonstrations.

Bodhi’s assignment also reflects how large the county’s K-9 operation has become since it was established in 1989 with three dogs. The unit now has six teams, each paired with a handler and deployed as part of the office’s broader response network. The sheriff’s office says K-9 teams patrol alongside their handlers so they can get to calls faster and bring specialized training to situations that unfold in county buildings or elsewhere in the county.

The scale of that work is laid out in the latest figures from Friends of Douglas County K-9 Colorado, which says the unit has logged 23,259 deployments since 2011. During that same period, the teams made 3,113 arrests, assisted 1,030 times in surrounding counties, confiscated more than 1,734 pounds of narcotics and seized more than $2 million in cash.

Bodhi’s arrival follows other recent K-9 activity in Douglas County, including the induction of new handlers in 2025 and Deputy Ian Austin’s testimony in support of legislation intended to protect law enforcement animals. The sheriff’s office says K-9s live with their handlers and typically stay together for six to eight years before retirement, when the handler gets the first option to keep the dog as a pet. That arrangement means Bodhi is not just a security tool, but part of a long-term public safety model now embedded in daily county government operations.