McHenry’s K-9 officer Eli brings his own special skills to the department: ‘They’re priceless’

From the start of his career, McHenry police Officer Josh Conway knew he wanted to be involved with the K-9 unit. He joined the department in 2014 and, in 2020, became the handler of his first working dog, K-9 Eli, a now-4-year-old German shepherd.

Eli was sourced and trained at TOPS, a kennel in Grayslake that specializes in K-9 training. Conway and Eli began their partner training when Eli was 14 months old.

“You have a meeting with the team at TOPS prior, but on Day 1 of training, you show up and go home with your dog,” Conway said.

“We will never know how many injuries and lives they’ve saved.”

—  McHenry police Officer Josh Conway of K-9 officers

Conway said being a K-9 handler is a constant job, and every dog is different. They do obedience training daily. Eli also runs on the treadmill for 45 minutes daily, after which Conway says he’s not even winded.

Conway spoke of the unparalleled tracking skills of K-9s.

“Their noses are incredible, and the dogs are extremely useful tools to track missing people and violent offenders,” Conway said. “They can also sniff cars and locations for drugs to build cases for narcotics investigations.”

Eli works every shift with Conway unless the K-9 squad car is down, or Eli is injured, a status he has luckily not had.

“They are priceless,” Conway said. “If met with someone potentially violent who would go hands-on with an officer, with intent to injure them, as soon as they know a dog is on the scene, they want nothing to do with that. We will never know how many injuries and lives they’ve saved.”

McHenry Police Cmdr. Paul Funk said Eli “is a specialty resource that allows officers to be more thorough in their investigations, be it on a traffic stop or searching for a missing person. The more tools officers have available to them to complete their job assignments, such as K-9 Eli, the more effective our overall agency becomes.”

Last summer, Conway, Eli and other officers were brought in to assist another local agency after an armed robbery just outside of the city limits. Officers located the vehicle with the three suspects, but two of them fled the traffic stop, one heading north into a local neighborhood and the other south into the woods. Eli and Conway first tracked and apprehended the offender hiding in bushes in the woods, as well as their gun located 10 feet away. They then tracked the other, who was found hiding in the backyard of an abandoned home.

“His drive to work is incredible,” Conway said of Eli. “As soon as he knows it’s work time, he’s on, and he’s like a completely different dog than he is at home.”

Recently, Eli assisted a local agency in locating a person who dialed 911 and needed medical attention. The person had left their home and gone for a walk, ending up in a situation where they required Emergency Medical Services to help them out of the woods. Eli tracked the person from the front door of their home through a neighborhood and small park into the woods, where he located the person.

Funk said, “The ability for our agency to successfully deploy our specialty resources, such as K-9 Eli, at times when the community as a whole or specific individuals are in need highlights our agency’s commitment to maintaining these resources to provide the best possible outcomes in uncertain circumstances. The locating of the individual who contacted the police for assistance by officer Conway and K-9 Eli is a testament to the extensive training and commitment to their job performances.”

Funk said a common misconception of police dogs is that they are overly aggressive and often bite people. While some dogs are trained in bite work, that is only one component of their training. Eli has bite training as well as extensive training in obedience, narcotics detection, tracking, article locating and cadaver locating.

Conway said Eli has a distinct on-off switch.

“As soon as he hops in the squad car, he’s ready. I can see it in his eyes. It’s a different ballgame being a handler.” Conway said. “When going into unknown situations or after violent offenders, you’re the tip of the spear. You don’t know what you’re in for, but you trust your dog, and they trust you.”

Conway said outside of work, Eli acts like a normal dog and appreciates his downtime as much as any other officer in the department.

After their shift, Eli goes home with Conway, where they live with Conway’s wife and daughter. At home, Eli is off duty and just one of the pack, which includes Ruger, a male Lab mix, and Kevyn, a female Catahoula. Eliwill remain with the Conways after his retirement.