Officer Brian Barnett - Tanto

My name is Brian Barnett and I joined the Unified Police Department in October 2017. I moved to Utah after working for an agency for five years and I was assigned to the Taylorsville Precinct as a patrol officer. During my time there I began training with the K9 unit to learn more about being a handler and gain some experience. I have always had a passion to be a K9 handler and worked briefly with military working dogs during my time in the Marine Corps.

My partner is Tanto, a three year old Belgian Malinois, born in Holland. Tanto and I became a team with the UPD K9 unit on April 20, 2021 and he is certified in narcotics detection and criminal apprehension. He also became a part of my family spending time off duty at home playing ball, hide and seek, and keeping us busy. Being a handler and working with Tanto has been very exciting and rewarding. We are looking forward to several more years together. One of our greatest achievements so far is placing second in the UPOA state K9 trials for “Top Dog” overall in 2023.