Officer Joseph Hodder has been a police officer for 30 years, all but 10 of which have been at NIU and the most recent of which he spent as the handler for Kazan, NIU’s resident explosives-detecting canine officer.

Kazan, which means “Prince” in Czech, is a highly-trained 5-year-old German shepherd with the University Police. He was the first to complete his certification, as well as the highest scorer in his class. When he was recertified at the national level, he was the only member of his class to complete his certification.

“It’s a very specialized position,” Hodder said. “Most drug dogs are trained to detect four drug odors. Kazan is trained to detect 10 different explosive odors.”

Hodder and Kazan train together every day, and every couple of weeks they meet with other canine officers to train together.

Hodder and Kazan have located a pipe bomb in Oregon, Ill., investigated suspicious packages in DeKalb and recently located 46 fireworks in a car parked in NIU’s Lot X.

“We weren’t even looking for anything, we just passed the car and Kazan signaled,” Hodder said. Kazan is a passive-alert dog, meaning he sits when he finds something. Most drug-detecting dogs are active-alert, meaning they scratch when they find something. When dealing with explosives, however, that tactic is not desirable.

Kazan has been part of the University Police for just over a year.

“After various bomb threats on campus, we decided to err on the side of caution,” said operations director Lt. Matt Kiederlen. “A canine can clear a building in half the time of an officer. It’s a matter of safety, savings and convenience.”

Kiederlen said the dogs provide extra security for large events on campus, like football games or concerts. Hodder and Kazan also put on demonstrations for the Huskie Pups Camp, a day camp over the summer.

“Kazan’s commands are all in Dutch, so I told the kids how to say ‘good boy’ in Dutch,” Hodder said. “Every time I’d say ‘good boy,’ there would be 29 kids yelling it in Dutch and Kazan would get so excited he would start jumping around.”

Kazan even goes home with Hodder in the evening.

“At home he relaxes,” Hodder said. “But when we’re on duty, he’s a working dog. He’s not trained to bite, he’s a single-purpose dog and that purpose is to find explosives. But I always request people to ask before they pet him. Some police dogs will eat your face.”