K9 Maxx is a bomb detection dog and will work to keep the 11th Judicial Circuit Court safe

ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — The St. Charles County Sheriff's Department has a new K9 officer, thanks to a local non-profit foundation.

At Tuesday night’s county council meeting, the Ryan Griffin Memorial Foundation presented the department with K9 Maxx, a 1-year-old bomb detection dog.

Maxx will work to keep the 11th Judicial Circuit Court safe, according to city officials.

Maxx and his handler, Cpl. Scott Snee, recently went through six weeks of explosives detection training.

“We’re very excited to add one more tool to our toolbox,” sheriff Scott Lewis said.

He is the 11th dog that the foundation has donated in the St. Louis area.

In 2007, Ryan Griffin died from an accidental drug overdose. A few years later, his family started the Ryan Griffin Memorial Foundation in his memory.

The foundation started with awarding scholarships to high school wrestlers. Ryan was a state champion wrestler for the Francis Howell School District, according to his mother Kim Griffin.

Kim said she felt in her heart that there was more the foundation could do for drug awareness and that’s when the idea for the K9 program came in.

“After I prayed on it, the direction from our good Lord gave me one word and that was K9,” she said.

The first dog the foundation donated went to Wentzville in 2015. Kim is a long-time resident in St. Charles County and was happy to have the opportunity to give a K9 to her community.

“I’m thrilled to be awarding my own community now with our 11th K9 dog to St. Charles County courts,” she said.