The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department has announced that it has added a new member to its K9 Unit, K9 Maia.
Maia, who was born two years ago in the Czech Republic, will be working with Deputy Bell as the two help keep the community safe.
Deputy Bell has been with the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department for the past three years, after she joined the Department in July of 2022.
Maia got K9 certified very recently- just earlier this year, in 2025. She is a dual certified K9, meaning that she is certified in both narcotics as well as for tracking, building searches, evidence recovery, and apprehension work.
Deputy Bell and Maia will not only work together, but will live together as well.
Maia will be the fifth K9 added to Waukesha’s current K9 Unit, joining the team alongside four other K9s and their respective handlers.
The Unit works hard to combat crime and keep the community safe, utilizing the K9’s special training.
The dogs are trained with such high quality that their involvement in a case can help solve problems, determine factors when investigating crimes, and may even assist in peaceful arrests.
The dogs can also be used as a ‘valuable public relations tool’, because they can be used at community events to help build public trust and foster healthy relationships between law enforcement agents and the public.
The K9 unit is most frequently used in Waukesha County for finding missing persons, apprehending criminal suspects, participating in building and vehicle searches, and helping officers detect narcotics.
Every member of the K( Unit also serves on the Tactical Enforcement Unit, a group of highly trained officers that help assist in situations which may be high risk and can pose great personal danger.
Including the K9 unit, the Tactical Enforcement Unit contains 35 tactical members, 11 negotiators, and one specialized tactical medic. They can work under extreme pressure and are valuable members of the Department in helping preserve public safety.
Members of the K9 Unit often build special relationships. K9 dogs and their handlers go home together and work together, seeing a wide variety of calls that they must respond to.
