K9 Officer Describes His Partner As A Driven Dog That's Happy When They Are Needed

FREDERICKSBURG, VA — K9 Officer Joel DeCilles and K9 Roxy of the Fredericksburg Police Department recently assisted the Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office in locating crucial evidence in one of the cases it was investigating.

When the K9 team arrived on the scene, sheriff's deputies told them that a fleeing suspect discarded a firearm in a nearby wooded area and they needed help locating it.

While the deputies took the suspect into custody, K9 Roxy entered the wooded area that was thick with vegetation and soon alerted to her partner that she'd found the handgun. DeCilles recovered the weapon, which he handed over to the deputies.

This incident is just one example of how the Fredericksburg Police Department deploys its three K9 teams to assist in their investigations, as well as those of other jurisdictions.

Since July 2023, DeCilles and Roxy have completed 741 training hours and had 138 deployments in Fredericksburg, as well as 25 for outside agencies.

The K9 team's deployments have led to 26 arrests and resulted in the seizure of 132 grams of narcotics, including 64 grams of methamphetamine, 20 grams of cocaine/ “crack” cocaine, and 48 grams of Fentanyl, as well as 34 items of paraphernalia. The team also located three guns, tracked down three suspects, and identified the flight path of six more.

K9 Roxy is a 5-year-old Belgian malinois from Czechoslovakia, which the department purchased from Tarheel K9 in Sanford, North Carolina. That is where the Virginia duo initially certified as a K9 team.

Currently, Fredericksburg Police have three active K9 teams: K9 Officer J. DeCilles andK9 Roxy; K9 Officer F. Murphy and K9 Raider; and Officer U. Brown-Kaleopaa and K9 Shep. There have been several K9 teams in the past.

Patch and T-Mobile have teamed up to honor local EMTs, firefighters and police officers. As part of that initiative, Patch is recognizing K9 Officer Joel DeCilles and K9 Roxy as First Responders who are making a difference in the Fredericksburg community.

DeCilles answered Patch's questions about the K9 team's work as part of the Fredericksburg Police Department.

When did you and K9 Roxy first meet and train together?

I was first paired with K9 Roxy in June of 2023, where we had about a month of bonding prior to attending K9 school at Tarheel K9 in Sanford, North Carolina.

What’s a typical day like for the K9 team?

A typical work day for the K9 team starts at my house with getting K9 Roxy ready for work, which entails letting her out of the kennel to exercise and getting her dressed for work; putting on harness and collar.

Once at work, most shifts start with K9 Roxy running around in the field at the Police Department chasing her ball. While we are on shift and depending on how busy we are, I attempt to do small training sessions with her with at least one incorporating the squad I work with. The training session could be an article search, track, building search, obedience or narcotics detection. The K9 team responds to assist on a lot of calls, attempts to stay available for priority calls that the K9 team could provide assistance or being a pro-active unit on patrol.

What types of calls does K9 Roxy seem to prefer responding to?

As a handler, my favorite thing to do is tracking. K9 Roxy loves to work and is a very driven dog, so she is happy when we are needed for any call where she is able to be used.

Which of K9 Roxy's skills are most important to her doing her job effectively?

K9 Roxy is a very driven, smart, task-oriented and obedient K9, which makes it very easy for us to complete a task at hand.

What are the K9 team’s off hours like? Is Roxy a member of DeCilles’ family?

K9 Roxy does live with me at my house and is considered a part of the family, even though she has very little interaction with my wife and son.

Just like at work, my day starts and ends with Roxy. The first and last thing I do every day is check on Roxy, spend time with her and let her out. Roxy and I, at a minimum, go for a long walk every day, but most days she gets to run around my yard several times a day chasing her ball and sniffing/ investigating everything. Roxy has a large covered outdoor kennel that she lives in.

How does having a K9 partner compare to having a human partner?

I think having a K9 partner or being a K9 handler is the best job in law enforcement (nothing against my co-workers).

How many years do K9 dogs typically work for a police department before they retire?

There is no exact time a K9 will be in service due to many factors, the big one being their health. But, typically, K9s generally work until they are 6-9 years of age.

What’s one thing that people may not know about a K9 team that you think would be of interest to the public?

It’s that the handler and K9 are trained and certified as a single unit or team. The bond between a handler and K9 is often considered as important as the K9's training.

The K9 team maintains a yearly certification through the Virginia Police Canine Association. K9 Roxy is trained in obedience, narcotics detection, article/ evidence search, tracking, area/ building searches and suspect apprehension. The K9 team is also deployed with SETT, assists narcotics detectives during search warrants and warrant services.