The DeKalb Police Department has a new officer on the force and he’s only 18 months old.

Tac, the new police K-9, was carefully chosen based on his bloodline and personality, said DeKalb police officer Aaron Gates. Gates said Tac, a Belgian Malinois, was born in Slovakia, where the bloodlines are purer. Belgian Malinois are ideal for police dogs, Gates said, because they are high energy. He was taken to a kennel in Indiana, where DeKalb’s police department paid $8,000 for Tac.

Gates said the startup and training will cost $50,000 to $60,000. Tac, who lives with Gates, is being trained by a trainer certified by the Illinois State Police Department.

“I’m the only one allowed to pet him right now,” Gates said. “We’re going through a critical bonding period.”

Gates said this bonding process will help Tac learn Gates is his master, and should listen to his orders, which are given in Dutch. Gates said orders are given in Dutch so Tac won’t listen to English commands from people who are not his owner.

Even Gates’ children are not allowed to pet Tac at home, but Gates said Tac is very friendly to children and other dogs. Gates said that although Tac can be fidgety in new scenarios, it is good he is getting used to children so Gates can bring him along to elementary schools.

“They tell me to treat him like I would treat my gun,” Gates said. “You wouldn’t let your kids play with your gun or leave it lying around.”

Lt. Jim McDougall went with Gates to Indiana to pick up Tac. He said Tac’s temperament, size and task ability were superior to the other dogs’.

“He was one of about 20 dogs we looked at,” McDougall said. “This dog seemed to do really well with the tasks we gave him.”

Gates said these tasks included bite work, in which trainers wearing bite gloves were bit by the dogs. Gates said Tac performed well and knew when to stop biting.

Of Tac’s training class, Gates said 20 to 30 percent of the dogs have already failed out. They failed out because in their bite work, they let go of the trainer’s arm instead of holding on. Gates said the dogs are supposed to do bark and hold, where the bite is held.

Tac’s training started last week and continues for 10 weeks. Gates said after initial training is complete, Tac will have to complete 16 hours of training a month.

“Training is always ongoing,” Gates said. “If you let it slide, he’ll lose a lot of that knowledge.”

Tac is the only police K-9 in the DeKalb Police Department.