Sheriff Redman dons bite suit to demonstrate county jail's new K9s

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- The St. Joseph County Police Department held a demonstration involving two K9s at the St. Joseph County Jail Tuesday morning.

Police say the purpose of these new dogs is to add a new layer of security to the county jail, and to help track contraband that may enter the facilities.

Sheriff William Redman donned a full-body bite suit and was attacked one at a time by K9s Apollo and Thor.

Warden Andrew Finn said, "Just the presence of the dog will deter certain behaviors. They are trained dual purpose. So, if we were to have an incident where an inmate gets a hold of a sharpened object, or something, and it prevents, or I have an officer safety issue, I can send the dogs in rather than having staff go in."

Thor and Apollo have been training and started their first week at the jail Tuesday.

"It's always good to have K9s on hand. I mean, the things they can do are more amazing than what we can do. I mean, they can locate things. They can stop things. Just like the presence of having two dogs in here, I think, is going to calm some things down within the population of the inmates," said Officer Brent Rose, Apollo's trainer.

Authorities say both dogs are trained for narcotics and apprehension.

Apollo and Thor were trained on meth, heroin, and cocaine.