Middlesex Township Police Department picks new K-9
The Middlesex Township Police Department has announced that it has chosen a German Shorthaired Pointer named Steki to be trained to become its newest K-9 officer, filling a role at the police department that has been vacant since August 2025.
Once Steki completes training, she will become the third K-9 officer to be used by the Middlesex Township Police Department in recent years. The previous K-9 officer at the department, a Belgian Malinois, Veegee, left in August 2025 when his handler, Matthew Rapone, accepted a job at another police department. Veegee himself was brought in to replace a German Shepherd named Bolt, who was transferred to Saxonburg in July 2024.
Steki’s training will take place at Shallow Creek Kennels in Sharpsville, Mercer County. Training will start on June 22 and is expected to last roughly a month.
Although the police department previously indicated it was specifically looking for a Labrador, K-9 handler Natalie Richards ultimately “hit it off” with Steki, according to police Chief Justin Bouch.
“We were originally going to look for a Lab and (Natalie) looked at some, but she and Steki hit it off,” Bouch said.
Unlike prior K-9 officers used by the department, Steki will not specialize in detecting narcotics, but will instead be trained to search for missing persons, as well as to provide mental health support to victims of traumatic incidents.
“Tracking and therapy is the avenues that we're going with,” Bouch said. “It’s for community engagement.”
The police department is hoping for Steki to finish her training in Sharpsville and be ready for K-9 duty by the day of Middlesex Township’s annual Community Day event on July 25.
“(Steki is) picked out and paid for and everything,” Bouch said. “The kennel is starting to train Steki in the training and therapy aspects now.”
