PRESCOTT – The highlight of the Monday, March 13 Prescott City Council meeting was officials getting to know the city’s K-9 officer Caesar.

Caesar and his handler, Officer Jesse Neely, got done with K-9 officer training in December and immediately went to work in Prescott. In his first months on the job, Caesar has been credited with 12-14 arrests, Neely told the city council.

Neely and his family opened their doors to Caesar last spring, when the Prescott officer got the call three months early that Caesar’s plane had touched down in Minneapolis. Neely went to the training facility in Coon Rapids to meet his new partner.

“I didn’t have any idea what we were getting,” said Neely.

Neely brought Caesar home. After a day or two of adjustment, he fit right in.

“He’s super gentle, super well-behaved,” said Neely. “Now him and our lab we have at home, they’re absolutely best buddies.”

Alderperson Dar Hintz thanked his family for opening their doors to Caesar.

“People don’t realize the commitment having a K-9 in your home. It’s a commitment for the whole family,” she said.

Neely recounted Caesar’s first chase. The duo was parked downtown toward the end of a shift and saw two cars come across the Highway 10 bridge at a high rate of speed.

“We ended up getting in a pursuit with this car stolen out of Minneapolis,” he said. “They tried to ram me a couple times. They ended up hitting one of our other squad cars.”

A Cottage Grove squad forced the car into a ditch, and occupants fled. Caesar went to work.

“I let him out to go get the two guys who bailed. He closed the gap on them pretty good. We were on the track right where they were,” Neely said.

The two gave up.

“We ended up getting meth, crack, heroin and a large amount of fentanyl out of that car,” he said.

The car was towed back to Prescott, where Caesar was able to demonstrate his drug sniffing skills.

“I walked him by. He started sniffing. He arches his back and sniffs real fast. You know there’s dope in there,” Neely said. “He’s got a real good nose for dope. It’s been used a few times since we’ve been out on the road.”

Neely said he and Caesar have been called out by neighboring agencies, including the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.

“We’re getting out there. We’ve done some vehicle sniffs, some tracks,” he said.

Neely said Caesar is very friendly with the general public and doesn’t mind the friendly attention.

“But when he gets in work mode, he focuses,” said Neely.

Community members banded together to raise $90,000 to bring Caesar to Prescott. He was born in the Czech Republic.