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Canine Unit

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The Downey Police Department's Canine Program was re-established in 2010 to augment police services to the community. Highly skilled and trained teams of handlers and canines have evolved from the program and are used to supplement police operations to locate contraband and apprehend criminal offenders. The Canine Program currently consists of the following Handlers and Canines:

Corporal Alejandro Rodriguez
Canine Rex

Corporal Rodriguez with RexIn March of 2017, the department added our fourth team to the Canine Program with the selection of Corporal Alejandro Rodriguez and Canine Rex. Rex is a male who is half Belgian Malinois and half German Shepherd. Corporal Rodriguez and Rex completed six weeks of suspect apprehension training and an additional 5 weeks of narcotics detection training.

Corporal Rodriguez has been a police officer with the Downey Police Department since 2005. During this time Corporal Rodriguez has worked in Field Operations as a Patrol Officer and Field Training Officer. Corporal Rodriguez was promoted to the rank of Corporal in May of 2017. On June 22, 2017, Corporal Rodriguez and Rex started patrolling the streets together.

Officer Alejandro Zuniga
Canine Aryazuniga

In September of 2023, the department added a new member to the Canine Program with the selection of Officer Zuniga and his police service dog Arya.   K9 Arya was hand selected to meet the needs of our department.  K9 Arya is a female Belgian Malinois and was imported to the United States from Holland.  Officer Zuniga and K9 Arya completed several weeks of training at Adlerhorst International K9 Academy and have been patrolling the streets of Downey since December 2023.  K9 Arya is certified in suspect apprehension and will soon be completing narcotics detection training to become a dual-purpose canine.

 Officer Zuniga has been a police officer with the Downey Police Department since 2017.  Officer Zuniga has worked in the Field Operations Division as a Patrol Officer, Field Training Officer, Drone Operator, Special Response Team Officer, and a member of the department's SWAT Team.