Southington Police Department Adding A Second K9 Unit

By Brian M. Johnson, The Bristol Press

April 14, 2022

This has been made possible because of a donation from The Hometown Foundation, Inc. and The Joe & Kay Calvanese Foundation, after whom the dog is named. Previously, the department only had one K9 unit, “Tank”, who is handled by Officer Neal Ayotte.

“I want to thank Chief John Daly for giving me this opportunity,” said Carbone. “I have been looking forward to it; training and working with dogs is my passion. This was always a goal of mine before I started going into police work.”

Carbone has served with the Southington Police Department for 15 years, previously serving on patrol duty and with the Central Region Emergency Response Team. He has also served as a use of force and firearms instructor with the department.

In the coming weeks, Carbone and Kay will be undergoing a three month training academy in preparation for their new role. The plan is for Kay to take on the full role by May 2.

“It is unusual to be receiving a K9 unit as a ‘green dog’ that doesn’t have the training experience, but Kay and I will be learning everything together,” said Carbone. “Yesterday, we did a training exercise with the Emergency Response Team where Kay went on top of a ballistics shield and was lifted up into an attic.”

Kay will be used for tracking, apprehension, narcotics and protection work with the Southington Police Department.

Similar to officer Ayotte and Tank, the Southington Police Department plans to bring Carbone and Kay out at several community events.

“The STEPS Coalition reached out to us asking us to come to the schools to do a demonstration as soon as we are available to do so,” said Carbone. “We like to have programs like this to build a further relationship between the police department and the kids.”

Brian M. Johnson can be reached at 860-973-1806 or bjohnson@bristolpress.com.