Director Ballinger has been a K-9 handler for over 20 years. He is responsible for running the K-9 Unit and training the department K-9 teams and over 50 police K-9 teams throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Taku is a Hollandse Herder (Dutch Shepherd), he was the first Hollandse Herder to work as a police dog in the county. He is a certified patrol dog, trained in Building searching, Area searching, Article searching, Crowd control, Search and Rescue and Apprehension. He replaced K-9 Dustin, a German shepherd upon his retirement in 2004.

Kenny also handles K-9 Brodie, a black Labrador retriever. He is a certified narcotic detection dog. Director Ballinger is currently training K-9 candidate Puppy Ari who is one of the litter of Dutch Shepherd pups bred here at the Sheriff’s Office.