K9 Darwin is an ATF Explosives Detection Canine assigned to the Chicago Field Division with Special Agent Canine Handler (SACH) Kurt Bentley. K-9 Darwin’s job is to find explosives, guns and ammunition. He started his training with the Puppies Behind Bars organization. 

For K-9 Darwin, explosive detection work runs in the family. ATF recruited Darwin, his brother Hank and three sisters, Lady, Piper and Shiloh at the same time. The siblings also graduated together August 9, 2019. K-9 Darwin is also assigned to the Chicago Crime Gun Strike Force and may be called upon to assist with investigations throughout the country. 

Recent Find

On December 30, 2021, SACH Bentley and K-9 Darwin responded to a shooting that occurred in Southlake Mall in Hobart, Indiana. SACH Bentley and K-9 Darwin worked with local evidence technicians to find crime scene evidence. 

K-9 Darwin alerted the team to a projectile he found underneath a massage chair that was located near an escalator on the first floor of a building just below the crime scene. He also found another projectile a few feet in front of the massage chairs. K-9 Darwin’s finds help to identify the direction of the shooting