He has four legs, a long snout, and perky ears. 

His name is Merce, he's the newest addition to the Moose Jaw Police Service, and the fourth canine to join the local force. The latest addition to the K9 fleet was named after Jason Mercer who passed away in March of 2016.

Chief of Police, Rick Bourassa said that the tactical capabilities of the Moose Jaw Police are increasing, and additional canine aid is simply one part of it. As violent crime rises in the city, so too must the responses from local authorities. 

"We're just at the beginning of moving towards increasing our tactical capabilities and tactical responses," Bourassa said. "What I mean by that is our ability to deal with high-risk situations, typically involving people with firearms. Over the past year, we had about ten situations that were very high risk, there were firearms involved. A large number of those, if not all ten, we had to request assistance from other police services that had tactical capabilities that we didn't have." 

Bourassa said it can sometimes be difficult to rely on other agencies to meet the needs of law enforcement here in Moose Jaw. 

"They have their own issues to deal with, and sometimes there can be time that can be extended waiting for their arrival. So we are at the very beginning stages of working with these other agencies to develop our own tactical capability that we can coordinate with them and support each other in these situations. very, very important. Our goal whenever we go into a high-risk situation is to come out of it with everybody being safe, no matter who it is that's involved, and there are some really good tactics and tools that can be used to make sure that happens." 

The Moose Jaw Police Service has been using canines for about ten years now. Bourassa said that adding the fourth dog will mean 24/7, 365 day a year canine coverage.