The K9 Team Behind School Safety: Officer Matt Mills & Aramis

A Belgian Malinois from the Czech Republic walks into a school and somehow manages to be both a laser-focused narcotics detection dog and the sweetest, most approachable face of school safety. That’s K9 Aramis, and we’re joined by his handler, Officer Matt Mills, to explain how a K9 team actually fits into day-to-day life inside Cape Coral schools.

We talk through what Aramis is trained to find, why THC vapes have become a real issue on campuses, and how targeted backpack or bag sniffs can support administrators when they ask for help. Officer Mills also shares why temperament matters so much for a school-based K9: a dog has to be safe for student interactions, but ready to switch into work mode instantly. Along the way, we get a look at the broader mission of community policing, including K9 demos at youth centers, PAL programs, camps, and community groups that help kids see officers as people they can trust.

Summer brings a different rhythm, not a break. We cover how SROs still support summer school and camps, why training ramps up when school is out, and what law enforcement watches for when juveniles have more idle time. Officer Mills explains the prevention side too: working with juvenile probation, monitoring at-risk kids, and pushing for outcomes that get them off probation and back on track.

If you’ve ever wondered what a K9 handler’s life looks like after the shift ends, Officer Mills gets real about it: the training never stops, the dog comes home, vacations take planning, and the responsibility is closer to raising a kid than having a “work partner.” 

Transcript

Welcome And Meet The K9

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Welcome back to another episode of the Cape Copcasts. I'm one of your hosts, Lisa Greenberg. And I'm Officer Mercedes Simons. Together we make up the public affairs office. And today we have canine officer Matt Mills and maybe a little bit of Aramis in here too. Yes. We'll see. We'll see how he behaves today.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Super excited to have you. You have a super unique position within our police department. So I have been telling Mercedes for a while. We got to get you on the podcast. She did a fun video with you for police week, and I'm like, he'd be a good podcast guest. So I'm glad you're here. Thank you for having me.

Who Aramis Is And Why

SPEAKER_02 0:35

So I guess let's start with Aramis. Tell us a little bit about Canine Aramis.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

So Aramis is a uh six and a half year old Belgian Malinois. We got him in 2021 when I joined the Canine Unit originally. He's from Czech Republic. Wow. So he's a uh pretty rambunctious dog still, even at six, about to be seven uh on the nineteenth. So he's getting up there at age, but still workaholic, just like me, wants to get out there and work, wants to get out there and do fun stuff. And you know, I take him now we get to take him to the schools and stuff, so he hasn't, like you said, a unique job where he's enjoying and able to be pet and still do the job that he needs to do.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Right. And I didn't mean to start with the dog over you. Obviously, you're very important, but you know people love to hear about

From Patrol To Canine Unit

SPEAKER_02 1:20

the dog. So you've been with the department for how long?

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Um start my 20th year here pretty soon. Oh yeah, I didn't know that. I didn't know that either.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

That's incredible. You've held a few different positions in that time. Obviously, a long time year means there's been a lot of different moves that you've made. Where did you start and kind of how did you end up where you're at now?

SPEAKER_00 1:38

So I started in 2007 and this shows on patrol. Um was in patrol for a while, started um liking traffic for a little while, so I did a stint in traffic um back in 2008-2009. Uh came back to patrol, they were kind of rotating officers in to see if they liked that position. So I did that for a little while, stuck with that, and then ended up on we had uh a street crimes team, or I did our uh we had a power shift before that. So I was moving to power shift, and that was a uh two to two shift. Oh yeah. And kind of came in to help alleviate the extra calls in between the two shifts transitions, night shift and day shift. So we were there to help uh help alleviate that with the overflow calls. So I did that for a little while and then ended up on the street crimes team, which was called Met Mobile Enforcement Team. So uh was on that for a little while. Um due to staffing issues, that kind of got disbanded. So we went back to patrol and then uh from there I tried out for the canine team and made uh the canine, sorry, the canine unit made that in 2020.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

And that's when you got Aramis. Yes. And what's interesting about your position now is you're a mix between being on the canine unit, of course you have a canine, but you're also within

Building A K9 Role In Schools

SPEAKER_02 2:50

the schools. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

A year and a half or about two years ago now, worked on transitioning, getting a canine into the schools. Um obviously we have a need with narcotics, um, and they're eventually working towards getting possibly a black powder dog or um a therapy dog, I believe, in the unit. So that could be coming in the future, but right now Aramis is a narcotics-trained uh canine. So with us, we go to different schools, um, high schools mainly will do narcotic sniffs uh if they need it in middle schools. Obviously, we have an uptick with vapes and things like that in schools. So um Aramis is on marijuana, so he's able to sniff out the vapes at THC. Uh so I'll have him, we can do backpack sniffs, things like that. Nature and Ida Baker, they had their uh grad bash. They go to uh Busch Garden. So myself and the sergeant of the unit, Sergeant DeRose, over there, and all the kids will come out, and then they have to lay out their bags, and the dogs will sniff their bags, make sure they're not bringing anything they don't need to with them on the trip. So um able to do that, and then we go around all the different city organizations, um, camps. Today I actually have a uh demo with Aramis at a uh adult special needs group down in Southwest Cape, so I'll be down there today. So we kind of go around, we do demos. I'll work with Pal, our police athletic league. Um I was just at the youth center yesterday doing a uh demo for like 15, four, and five-year-olds. So you know it kind of ranges, and that's what's good about Aramis is he's able to be in the schools, he's able to turn it on when he needs to turn it on to do the work, but he's also able, he has a really good disposition of being pet.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

So you know, he can be around, love on you, and yeah, that is perfect because a lot of the different canine officers have different relationships. Some dogs they train in there specifically focused work dogs. You go to work, you sniff, you bite, and we put you back and you're ready to go when we bring you out again, versus having other dogs that have more of a friendly temperament. Yep. Because there are some of our canines that I'm like, well, I don't I don't really want to go pet you, I'm just gonna stay over here. But then there are other dogs that it's like you're so excited to see, and they're excited to see you. And Aramis is one of those dogs, so it's always fun when he comes around because he's he's he's got it all. He's so sweet.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

He's pretty good. Yeah, I've I've uh really enjoyed having him. We've had him, like I said, since um January of 21 is when we got him. And uh in the beginning, it's tough because you don't know these dogs from anything. So when we get them, I mean, my family, I have little kids, and I didn't bring my the girls around him until he was almost probably with us about six months. And then I mean, they they saw him obviously, but they didn't really have much interaction because we don't know how they're gonna interact. And it's a slow transition of bringing them into your family and you know, making them uh part of your family. So um, and now here we are all these years later, and he's a great family dog, and he's a an absolute phenomenal working dog. I mean, it's just incredible what that dog does.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

It's so interesting too, because I was just having this conversation about school resource officers, how you have to be the man or woman who is, you know, friendly to the kids, loving on the kids, is that person that kids feel they can trust and turn to, but also be able to turn on a dime and go into work mode. And if there's a threat, be able to meet that threat. And it's the same thing with Aramis. I mean, you have to have that friendly demeanor that, oh, I can pet you and love on you and hug you, but also if you need to work, like you're gonna pivot quickly and be able to handle that.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, I dealt with that a little bit when I was working as the Ezra at um Trafalgar Middle School. And you know, same thing, you'll be in the middle of a meeting uh with you know your admin team, and then you know, a medical call or something like that comes out, and now you know we're running on, you know, there's several times we had we had uh one of our girls, she had was prone to seizures. So um for a while, I mean we were going to her multiple times a week. So you'd be in the middle of just doing whatever, lunch, and you know, here you are now responding to a medical call and helping out our kids. So it is an

Summer Duty Camps And Training

SPEAKER_00 6:35

extremely important role on both sides.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Yeah. What do things look like now that we're coming into summer and school's not in session? Do you have like does your role change? Do you have different job obligations now that you're looking at?

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yeah, so uh all the SROs we still have. Um obviously schools just don't shut down their summer schools, there's different programs and different camps that all the schools run. Uh so our FSROs will go in different functions. Uh, like I said, police athletic league, they run a lot of camps. So that is all you know, big hands-on deck. They have summer camps, so there's normally anywhere from five to seven SROs that'll go and help out with those summer camps because you know that's all summer long. It's two months, so they need a lot of different, a lot of different hands-on deck with that because they take uh they go on uh different trips and do different programs. Um Pal puts on the uh football with through Oasis Middle School, or I'm sorry, Oasis High School helps put that uh football pro summer camp on, so I'll help out with that.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Yeah, people are looking for a summer camp for your kid. I think we're still taking and looking for people in our football camp, and that's always really fun, really successful. All the kids love it. There can be girls, boys, you name it, and you learn essential skills. It gets your kids out of the house for a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Yeah, absolutely. And the kids love it. The kids love a few hours in the in the you know the beginning of the day. It's still warm, but you know, there's plenty of water breaks and stuff like that, and they feed the kids. And you know, I I did it last year's a great time. The kids loved it. So, you know, and again, continuing on with some of that stuff is um, you know, for Aramis and I, we'll go to the different camps. I have uh, I think right now at least 10 to 12 different demos set up throughout the summer at different camps. Uh so we'll go to that. Um, also with our SROs in the summer. Um, you know, we're still not off duty, so we need to go secure our campus, make sure there's anything, if there's any storms, we go and we'll check on the campus, make sure there's no fencing damage or building damage, and then we can get with the school admin or the building super and make sure that those things get handled throughout the summer. Um, they'll meet with their admin team from time to time. So, and it is also our downtime or the SRO's downtime, so they'll take their vacations that they couldn't take throughout the school year. So, you know, that's the other thing with what a lot of people don't realize is SRO, you know, you're there nine months out of the year or eight months out of the yeah, having a long school uh is in session, but then you're not really allowed to take vacations. So those vacations will come in the summer, so that's when they kind of you know burn all your time for sure.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Yeah, yeah, it's a serious job. And and all the SROs take it very seriously where they are working on those days that they are in school. So it is a good time for them to kind of take a step back for y'all to get the breaks that you need. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

And training. I think they do a lot of essential training that they can't get during the school year, too. And that actually is pretty time consuming when done right, especially since SROs require a different level of training, a different type of training than you see with your regular

Juvenile Crime Prevention And Probation

SPEAKER_01 9:15

patrol officers. But in terms of juveniles um and summer break, um, we usually see a little bit of an uptick in different things like vehicle burglaries and different crimes because they're not they're not doing homework, they're not in school, and they're um not very good at entertaining themselves, I guess. So what are what are what's our plan with that? Are we doing something?

SPEAKER_00 9:37

So we do we we have some plans in place to set up and you know we do have juveniles that have gotten in trouble that are on probation. So we're monitoring those with the juvenile probation officers. Um we just had a operation a few weeks ago where we came in and had to do drug screening with some of the ones that are on probation. So we're gonna continue to work with that. There's a couple officers that are starting uh kind of a unit to work on that throughout the summer. And uh the other day we tasked a few different officers that are gonna help out with that and just kind of monitor them throughout the summer. If there's any issues, then you know, we'll go and handle it and talk to them. And you know, not only is it we're not looking to get these kids in trouble, it's also a mentoring thing, right? So we're trying to bring them back to hey, probation is kind of your first real punishment. We need to get you out of that probation and and move on to getting back on the you know straight and narrow path. Get you back in school. Because a lot of these kids, when they do get in trouble, um, they have to leave school and go to an alternative school until they've completed some of these programs and they can get back in and you know, general population of school. So that's ultimately is the goal is getting these kids back to where they need to be and getting back on the path. So whether it's getting them in some of these camps, um, you know, or uh sometimes there's just things that we can't do or we can't help out, and those kids we just got to monitor.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

For sure. I am curious,

Home Life With A Working Dog

SPEAKER_02 10:55

taking it back to Aramis, what's your guys' dynamic like? I mean, you kind of mentioned that now he's more involved with your family, he is somewhat a family dog, but he's also a working dog. So I'm curious like what the dynamic at home is like and when you are at home with your family with Aramis.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

So I mean, like I said, he's a Belgian Malinois, so he's the kind of the crazy cousin of the shepherd. And he I think we kind of joked that he's a Shepanois and he's got a little bit of shepherd in him, and that's where that good demeanor comes in. But that crazy work ethic of a Malinois is still there, so there's no downtime. I mean, we get home, um, I run him when he gets out of the car just to stretch his legs a little bit. We'll come in, I'll get a you know, out of my uniform, and then he's you know out of his uniform per se, and then playing. But I mean he'll run around that he just does laps. He'll sit down for a little bit, uh, he's got his cong that he chews on, and then he hears a noise and he's up doing laps again. So I mean that's just an all-day thing until he goes back, until he goes to bed tonight. So he uh the kids play with him, we'll you know, he'll be outside running around, kids will play with him, lay on him, and he's perfectly fine. But he's just an interesting character, to say the least.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

It's so unique to me because you know, say you're on patrol, you go home from your shift, and you're able to take off your vest and get into relaxed mode and you get to kind of just decompress from it all and kind of separate. But when you take your working dog home with you every night, the work continues. You have to run these dogs, you have to keep them in good shape, you have to make sure that they, you know, do all the things that they need to do to continue to be a good working dog. And it almost blurs that like line between work life and home life.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Yeah, there's no really, you know, downtime. I mean, for police in general, when you're off duty, are you really off duty? You know, you're driving somewhere and you see an accident, you're gonna stop and you know and try to render it. But the same thing as a which you've done.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

You got a life-saving award last year for.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Things happen, but it's the same thing with the canon handler. The work does not stop. I mean, it is uh constant training. And you know, just from little things, if they're not paying attention to the house, and you may need to work with them with that, just you know, general obedience or just being around anybody because again, these dogs are trained. Aramis was a patrol apprehension dog, so he is still a bite dog. So that's still one of those in the back of my mind of even walking in my neighborhood or walking around, you know, there's things that I have to pay attention to and got to make sure that I mitigate any risk. Um it just doesn't stop. So it's you're you know, you gotta be part of a family, but at the same day, the same token, you still have this dog, right? So the dog is is kind of number one, not number one, but really, you know, part of it, that number one of the family because what people don't understand is the good thing about canine and the bad thing about canine is we get the dog, but the dogs make messes, the dogs get sick. So it's just like anybody. If I'm sick, if the dog's sick, we still gotta clean that up. So I'll be wake up in the middle of the night and there'll be a foul smell in the house. Well, guess what? I may be you know, now I'm out outside cleaning this kennel for the next couple hours because he's he's gotten sick. So it's just like a child, you know, having another child at the house. I know.

SPEAKER_02 13:56

I was almost gonna compare it, like we're work partners, but at the end of the day, like she goes to her house and I go to my house, but it is more like having a child because you have to take care of the dog.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

Like, well, it's just like you know, vacations too. I I just can't up and leave and go on vacation on the on a whim because now I have uh a canine that I have to make sure is food, you know, right? You can't just like somebody's watching them.

SPEAKER_01 14:19

So then you can't just like report him at tiki tails. Like he's gotta go with someone you know, probably.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

Yeah, um one of our uh former canine handlers, Officer Clapp, he's got a nice setup at his house and he's able to uh keep him. So uh we use him, and then we have a couple other specific people that we use our veterinarian, uh Dr. Kerr, they have a kennel there, so we can kennel them there. Um Aramis works uh is great at Clapp's house, so it's nice to have him there. And it's somebody that I know and can trust. And at any given time, if he needs to take him to the vet, if something happens, it's not an issue. You know, he can handle that too.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

But he doesn't torture Clapp's chickens. No, he stays away from the chickens. Oh my gosh, that's so funny.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

I didn't know he had chickens.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Yeah, he's got a big farm.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Very cool. Yeah, so that's a perfect.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

He and the cows kind of you know meet at the fence sometimes and have some words.

Final Thoughts And Sign Off

SPEAKER_00 15:05

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

That is so awesome. You did great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 15:09

You're perfect for this kind of stuff. Thank you so much for coming onto the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Thank you guys for having me.

SPEAKER_02 15:13

And uh, we will catch you next time. See you later. Yep. Stay safe.