Abington Police Dept. Is First Agency In Montgomery County To Get Bloodhound K9 Dog

ABINGTON, PA — Moose will soon be seen around the Abington community.

Not moose as in the huge animal species found in places like upper New England, but Moose the bloodhound dog that has joined the ranks of the Abington Township Police Department.

Police officials recently introduced the K9 unit’s newest four-legged member to the community. He is believed to be the first-ever bloodhound canine employed by any police department in Montgomery County.

The announcement came in the form of a post on the police department’s Facebook page.

Patch followed up with Abington Police, who shared Mooses’s story with a reporter.

Lt. Kevin Magee said to the best of his knowledge, K9 Moose is the only police department bloodhound being deployed anywhere in Montgomery County. He said there are other bloodhounds in the county, but they belong to various search and rescue teams and organizations, not municipal police agencies.

Magee said Moose will be partnered with Abington Officer Ray De Los Santos, who has been with the township’s police force since August 2019. Before that, he served as a Philadelphia Police officer from December 2014 until he joined Abington.

This will be the first K9 post for Santos, who served in the U.S. Navy from December 2008 until November 2012, according to Magee.

Magee said Abington does already have a K9 unit supervised by Sgt. Jennifer Doyle and regular K9, Bella. Bloodhound Moose will be joining that unit.

“A vast majority of the work that we use our K9s for is tracking,” Magee wrote to Patch. “Whether it be tracking suspects or missing persons (i.e. Elderly persons with dementia, children with autism, etc.) the bloodhound is uniquely adept at undertaking such a task.”

Magee stated that traditional police canines, typically the German Sheppard or Malinois breeds, are dual-purpose dogs who possess excellent tracking and apprehension abilities, but that the bloodhound breed, which is primarily a single-purpose K9, has a “superior sense of smell and excels in tracking persons.”

Magee said Abington would gladly come to the aid of other area policing agencies if the need is there since this appears to be a first of its kind in the county.

“Other Departments will absolutely benefit from our acquisition of the bloodhound as our Department is committed to Public Safety whether it be in our own community or elsewhere,” Magee wrote.

Magee said Santos and Moose have not yet begun training together, but that the plan is to start scent training in October and finish by sometime in January. The training is conducted by the Cape May County Sheriff’s Office at their training grounds in New Jersey.

“We as a Department could not be happier for Ray and Moose,” Magee wrote to Patch. “Ray is an outstanding officer who exemplifies the core values of the Department and the addition of Moose will create a high performing K9 team that will only enhance the safety and security of the community.”