The Police Department Canine Unit is made up of 5 patrol dogs and handlers and 1 narcotic dog handler teams.

The Manteca Canine Unit is the second oldest canine unit in the San Joaquin County, second oldest only to Stockton PD. Training is conducted "in house" as Manteca has always had the luxury of an "in house" trainer for all training needs.

The Manteca Police Canine Unit is a member of the Western States Police Canine Association. Members of the canine unit have been awarded hundreds of awards while competing in police canine competitions, including the winning of the top canine handler of the year award for the western states in 1983, 1984, 1987, and the Gold Medal in the 1984 Police Olympics held in Sacramento, California.

The Patrol dogs are trained in 5 phases of training. Those phases are Obedience, Agility, Search, Protection and Tracking. As society has dictated the need and use of police canines, it has also dictated the type of dogs needed. No longer used are the aggressive and intimidating dogs used exclusively for handler protection and locating the hidden suspects. Manteca employ’s and subscribes to the philosophy of tactical and useful tools within the Canine Unit being used only when called upon.

Manteca Police Canines can be used for number different situations such as but not limited to;

• Finding a lost person.
• Searching a building for a hidden suspect.
• Searching an open area for a hidden suspect
• Handler protection.
• Protecting a citizen.
• Holding a suspect at bay
• Locating a lost item.
• Crowd control.

Keeping in mind the extreme danger when searching for a possible armed suspect, the canines can search an area or building in a fraction of the time it would take two officers to do it safely.

The Manteca Canine Unit Narcotic dogs are trained in the scent detection of the following narcotics;

• Heroin
• Methamphetamine
• Marijuana
• Cocaine

The Manteca Canine unit members are:

K9@ci.manteca.ca.us