Yarmouth K-9 Officer Ambrosini & Gauge
What happens when a second-generation K-9 police officer meets a second-chance rescue dog? You get a force to be reckoned with in the fight against drugs on Cape Cod!
Law enforcement is in Officer Ambrosini’s blood, and so are K-9s. He father spent the majority of his career as a K-9 Officer with the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office. He has since founded the Cape & Islands Police K-9 Relief Fund to offer financial support for veterinary bills for retired K-9’s.
Officer Ambrosini is a graduate of Nauset High School and worked for several towns across the Cape before joining the Pro-Active Anti-Crime Unit with the Yarmouth Police Department. He has 13 years on the job and has been with the town of Yarmouth for seven. Ambrosini has the distinction of being a member of the elite Cape Cod Regional S.W.A.T. Team as well. In 2015, he was named one of the Officers of the Year for Yarmouth Police. Nicholas Ambrosini knows his stuff.
Officer Ambrosini had been hoping for the chance to partner with a K-9 from the moment he decided to become a police officer.
“I can remember going with my father to the training sessions when I was a kid,” Ambrosini said with a grin. “I’d play hide and seek with the (police) dogs.”
Gauge, on the other hand, needed a little help finding his place in life. It’s easy to assume that Police K-9s come from specific blood lines and are tested for temperament as puppies and handled and watched and tested again from an early age. Gauge is not that kind of dog. Gauge had been adopted and surrendered by more than one family. After his second surrender, this young dog had the luck of crossing paths with Kenneth Ballinger (President and CEO of Alpha Canis Advanced K9 Training and Care of South Weymouth).
Every K-9 has a job and Gauge was trained to detect and locate narcotics with the Yarmouth Police PACU. After spending an afternoon with these two, it’s easy to see that they are meant for each other.
Narcotics K-9 Gauge
On first introduction, Gauge looks like a black lab and sounds like a fierce German Shepherd. On a second look, he is too tall with long legs like a race horse – and yes – he is VERY fast! When I first met him, Gauge was in the back seat of Officer Ambrosini’s police cruiser – and Gauge let me know he did not like the idea of a stranger in the car. He has a bark that echoes right through your chest. It’s a good bark for a dog with a serious job.
According to Town of Yarmouth Deputy Chief Steve Xiarhos, “The Proactive Anti-Crime Unit is primarily a plainclothes unit consisting of three Yarmouth Police Officers who patrol the streets in plainclothes in unmarked vehicles looking for criminal activity. They are highly skilled and have been very successful in targeting illegal drug users and dealers, and have made hundreds of arrests. In addition, they are assigned to special events in uniform and conduct motor vehicle enforcement in areas of crashes or neighborhood complaints. They also take part in community policing initiatives, such as foot patrols in business sections and reading to children during Read Across America. The unit is a perfect example of another aspect of Community Policing in America.”
With a job description like that, you might want to prove your worth early on… and Gauge certainly did! He assisted in multiple arrests during his 7 days – one of those arrests was on his very first day!
Click here to read the Cape Wide News article about one of Gauge’s recent arrests: Yarmouth Police PAC and K9 Guage nab alleged heroin dealer
About Cat Wilson
