The graduates of the Michigan State Police 2025 Basic Canine School pose for a photo after graduation, Friday. Trooper Dieter Kochan and his new K9 "Roy" will serve out of the Calumet Post. K9 Roy is a replacement K9 for Trooper Kochan. This is the only canine team graduating out of this canine school assigned to the MSP 8th District (Upper Peninsula).

LANSING, MICH. — The Michigan State Police (MSP) has announced that Michigan residents will soon benefit from the services of four new canine teams, as well three replacement teams, that graduated from the MSP 2025 Basic Canine School Friday.

With this graduating class, the MSP has 42 canine teams strategically placed throughout the state whose handlers answer calls for service 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Collectively, the unit has 61 canines and handles more than 6,100 requests for service annually, making it one of the largest and busiest in the country.

“Our canine teams provide an invaluable service to our police partners and the communities we protect,” said Col. James F. Grady II, director of the MSP. “They cover every corner of our state, whenever the need arises, helping locate missing and vulnerable individuals, finding firearms used to commit crimes and taking drugs off the streets.”

The Basic Canine School is a 14-week intense training program conducted in-house by veteran MSP Canine Unit members. The handlers received more than 500 hours of instruction, and the canine teams covered more than 100 miles on foot as they received training in various disciplines including tracking, narcotics detection, building search, area search, property search, obedience and aggression.

The MSP Canine Unit was established in 1960. Nearly all its canines are German Shepherds due to the breed’s ability to handle the various functions and stress with intelligent problem-solving abilities and a high work drive. The unit provides services in firearm, cyber, explosive, accelerant and cadaver detection, as well as the tactical entry dog program, which provides services to the MSP Emergency Support Team.

The MSP 2025 Basic and Replacement Canine School graduates include:

Tpr. Luke Shafer, Koda, Tri-City Post

Tpr. Brendan Gute, Deke, Cadillac Post

Tpr. Michael Clemons, Ruze, Lakeview Post

Tpr. Austin Taylor, Kilo, Alpena Post

Tpr Dieter Kochan*, Roy, Calumet Post

Tpr. Benjamin Sonstrom*, Zorro, 2nd District Headquarters

Tpr. Adam Whited*, Fenrir, Houghton Lake Post

*indicates replacement team