by PAUL MORTON

Associate editor

Oberlin police officer Axel had not even officially started his first shift when he made his first arrest.

Another officer had made a traffic stop for expired plates and called for backup when drugs were suspected. Axel arrived and located the methamphetamine, and Jessie Cool was arrested on charges including possession of a Schedule 2 controlled substance.

Axel is the Oberlin police department's new police dog, under the direction of newly-trained K-9 officer Marc Ellis. Ellis was scheduled to start back to work at 3 p.m. on Thursday, May 29, after three months of training, but Axel was needed shortly after 9 a.m.

"They called me up (that) morning. They had a car stopped and they suspected drugs," Ellis said. "So I brought him out, he alerted on the car and we found drugs in the car. We were only certified Tuesday, and first day back we found drugs in the car."

Ellis said he had been lobbying police chief Tom Miller to re-establish the department's K-9 program since Sgt. Kevin Scalli left it to devote full time to his position as school resource officer.

"The first time I asked, the money just wasn't there," Ellis said. "The dog by himself and the training cost about seven grand. Then the second time around city council approved it, and we were able to find a dog that was sociable enough that we could have him here."

Sociability was a a key consideration because Axel lives with Ellis and his family. Ellis has four small children, with whom Axel gets along fabulously.

Ellis began training with Axel March 1, and he was certified as a K-9 officer on Tuesday, May 23.

"My training was so long because he is a dual-purpose dog," Ellis said. "They have dogs that are trained for patrol purposes, and they have dogs that are trained for special purposes. He's cross-trained in both."

Ellis said all of Axel's commands are given in German, so a typical person on the street could not order the dog to do something. And the dog is trained to take orders only from Ellis.

"If I were to tell you the German commands, he wouldn't respond to you," Ellis said. "Even my wife, he won't listen to her."

He said Axel is trained in tracking and searching in a variety of situations. He said that ability would have been a valuable addition to the department last summer.

"We had a thing last summer where a little boy wandered away from home in the morning," Ellis said. "We called around and nobody had a dog. If we had a dog to track the boy we could have told the parents he wandered into the woods or he got on the school bus. It turned out OK. He wandered down the street and got on the school bus."

Ellis added a police dog is good public relations while used during festivals such as Juneteenth and the Family Fun Fair. And he gives the police department another tool to perform its mission, even when the results are not as good as last summer.

"Maybe you won't use it but 20 times a year, but it's good to have when you need it," Ellis said. "I've never used my gun, and I hope never to use it in 25 years. But I have it if I need it. That's the way I look at having the dog."