Canine Officer (K-9)
The Mountlake Terrace Police Department K-9 specializes in narcotics recognition. A Police K-9 dog is a commissioned Police Officer. K-9 Teams perform basic patrol functions during their shift until needed to investigate narcotics related complaints. They also work closely with the Narcotics Task Force detectives and assist them in searches. The handler will usually work with the same dog for 5 to 7 years at which point the dog will "retire". The Mountlake Terrace K-9 is a black Labrador named "Hunter" and his handler is Officer Scott King. 

Dogs are used by police agencies in a number of capacities. There are search dogs, bomb dogs, cadaver dogs, and so on. Mountlake Terrace has maintained a Drug Detection K-9 for many years. K-9 dogs and their handlers go through extensive training to learn to work as a team. The dogs are tasked with finding well-hidden, planted narcotics. The dog is rewarded for a “hit” with tennis ball playtime. For the handler, they need to learn how to “apply” the dog correctly, or in other words, when and how they can search a person, place or vehicle.

In addition to helping patrol and narcotic officers, the services of a K-9 are shared throughout the area with other Law Enforcement agencies. We also bring in K-9’s from other agencies if we need, for example, to track a suspect.

Bike Patrol
The Mountlake Terrace Bike Patrol program consists of Officers specially trained to work on bicycles, usually work in pairs. On bikes, Officers are able to see things at a different pace than in a patrol car, but they can still respond fairly quickly when they are needed. Bike Patrols work very well in commercial, downtown areas and apartment complexes, or where there is a lot of pedestrian traffic, like street fairs and parades.

SWAT
In 1985, the cities of Lynnwood, Edmonds and Mountlake Terrace combined resources to form the South Snohomish County SWAT team. The team consists of around 15 members, 4 of whom are from the Mountlake Terrace Police Department. The structure of the SWAT team is; one Team Leader, one Assistant Team Leader, and three squads. Two of the squads are the entry teams, the third is a sniper/observation element.

Snipers must pass sniper school, a week-long training session, in addition to the SWAT tactical training. SWAT teams have two 5 hours training sessions each month and snipers have an additional 3 hours per month of rifle training at the range. The entire team has a week long advanced training every year. This training includes; building entry techniques, tactical movement, bus and vehicles assaults, hostage rescue, and advanced sniper training, just to name a few.

SWAT is utilized whenever events go beyond the capacity of ordinarily trained and equipped officers to handle. Examples may be high risk warrant arrests, barricaded subjects, hostage rescues, or any event where a higher level of specific expertise is required to resolve the situation.