The California State University, Northridge Police Department has recently gone operational with a new K-9 program. A first for the Department and CSUN, Officer Raymond Gonzalez and his partner, Briska, a bomb detection German Shepherd, are the newest additions to the Department's list of new program initiatives.

The K-9 program at the University Police department was launched in response to ongoing concerns with emergency preparedness, following the events of September 11, 2001.

CSU Northridge now joins CSU Channel Islands as on of two Police K-9 Units within the CSU system in Southern California.

Officer Gonzalez joined the Department in 2004 with two years experience as a K-9 handler for the J. Paul Getty Trust. Officer Briska is a four year old female Germen Shepherd imported from Germany and was donated to the Department by the Police Dog Foundation, Inc.

Briska is bilingual, taking commands from her human partner in both German and English. Officer Gonzalez and Briska recently underwent four weeks of bomb detection training at the Inglis Academy in Ventura and are now on patrol on the CSUN campus.