MONTGOMERY - The Orange County Sheriff’s Office Friday graduated its 17th K-9 Patrol School.

The graduates came from a number of areas in the region. They included Orange County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Ed Josefovitz and K-9 Hunter; from the Town of Clarkstown Police Department, Police Officer Robert Reilly and K-9 King; from the City of Beacon Police Department, P.O. Chris Alencastro and K-9 Ike, and P.O. Steve Ingram and K-9 Jax.  

Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois was there to congratulate the new graduates, as well as representatives from the other police departments and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department.  

The 16 week Patrol School trains K-9 teams in Obedience, Agility, Building Search, Area Search, Criminal Apprehension, Tracking, and Scent Detection/ Evidence Search.

The school is based at the Orange County Sheriff’s K-9 Training Academy in Montgomery and trains K-9’s at different locations throughout the county.

K-9 teams from Orange, Dutchess, Ulster, Sullivan, Westchester, Putnam, and Columbia counties train at the academy as well as K-9 teams from the metropolitan area.