The Saanich Police K9 Unit comes under the command of the Uniform Division Inspector, Trent Edwards.

The Saanich Police Department has four dog teams which are supervised and trained under the guidance of Sgt Glen MacKenzie. Each team goes through an intense 12-14 week training course before they validate to work the streets. The training makes the teams ready for all types of police deployments. All teams are required to validate annually.

They primarily respond to high priority "in progress" calls such as break and enters, theft of autos, theft from auto, purse snatchings and armed robberies. K9 teams also provide support for the other police divisions such as the Detective Division and Youth Section as required. 

Each team is mobile and able to respond to any call 7 days a week, 24 hours per day. The dogs are housed at their handler's residence in kennels provided by the Saanich Police Department. The primary deployment area for the K9 Unit is in the municipality of Saanich and Oak Bay however they routinely attend other areas in the CRD when dog services are requested by neighbouring police agencies.  

Dogs work until they are between 8-10 years of age, depending on their health at which time they are retired and usually live the rest of their lives with their handler.   

The motto of the Saanich Police K9 Unit comes from the attributes of the German Shepherd Dog: "Loyalty, Trust and Courage."