Spencer, IA (Northwestiowanow.com) — Spencer Police Chief Mark Warburton says changes to the salary and benefit plan approved by the city council is making it easier to hire officers. Two new officers were recently sworn in: Alex Francis and Josh Roberts.

The Storm Lake department’s new K-9 unit is also on the streets. Duke is a year and a half year old Belgian Malinois from Holland. He was selected at 10 weeks old for police training and completed his training with Officer Mitchell Fritz last month. Fritz says a police dog is an advantage for local departments in drug enforcement, and also for the protection of police officers. He says in addition to narcotics detection, Duke was trained as a multi-purpose dog and will be available during all shifts.

He is the ninth K-9 officer in Storm Lake dating back to the program’s inception in 1995. All of the police dogs – according to police chief Chris Cole – have been bought with donated funds.