VASSALBORO — Lewiston police officer Nathan Hood rolled up on the lawn, sirens blaring, came to a stop and threw open the cruiser door.

A man yelled at him 30 feet away. Hood started yelling back, until he tripped.

“You think that’s funny? Ice, get him!”

Hood touched his pocket, remotely popped open the rear cruiser door and the 2-year-old German shepherd tore across the grass and grabbed hold of the padded perp.

“Good boy, Ice, get him, buddy,” Hood said.

When the man gave up, Hood and Ice returned to the car, the dog’s tail wagging as he jumped into the backseat.

“Good job, daddy!” Hood’s 3-year-old daughter, Taylor, called after him.

Fifteen officer-K9 teams from around the state graduated from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy on Friday in a ceremony that was half formal — the awarding of certificates, dogs sitting calmly at their officers’ sides — and half showmanship with demonstrations that showed the teams in action.

The latter kicked off with one dog rappelling three stories off the academy roof with his trooper.

“These dogs are working for a ball, that’s all,” state police Cpl. Seth Edwards said.

For 14 weeks, the teams had worked on obedience, agility, tracking, searches and apprehension. The training was two weeks longer than usual, Edwards said, because of the number of dogs coming to the program from Europe.

“They’re a higher-drive dog, and we need to spend that extra time,” he said.

Together teams had climbed through culverts, swum across streams and practiced blindfolded, trying to play out as many situations as officers might encounter on the job.

“K-9s are truly a force multiplier,” Edwards said. “You can have 15 guns pulled on someone and they don’t seem to care. You bring out that dog, he starts barking, you’re getting some attention.”

The dogs are really good at finding evidence, he said, often laying down the object between their paws.

“They’ll look at it repeatedly and say, where the heck is my ball, old man?” Edwards said.

Ice and Rocky, Auburn officer Tyler Ham’s new dog, are both from the Czech Republic. Both officers had to teach the dogs to understand English and plan to get them certified for narcotics investigations.

Ham, on the Auburn force two years, said it was more difficult and time consuming than he’d thought, but, “having known that now, it’s totally worth it.”

“A lot of people see police dogs, all they think they can do is bite. They can protect us, they can defend us,” but the job is more than that, he said.

Ham anticipated Rocky, also a German shepherd, being helpful tracking children or suspects. Rocky has fit in well at home, he said, with his wife, their 1-year-old daughter and a cocker spaniel.

“He knows when he’s home,” Ham said. “You have to love dogs. The dedication to want to work a dog is kind of to the next level.”

Hood, with the Lewiston police for seven years, said Ice has also fit in with his young family and a second German shepherd.

“You get to have a partner with you every night, you get called to the good calls if they need to search for evidence,” Hood said. “He’s good at tracking, he puts his game face on.”

Ham and Rocky demonstrated the use of hand signals to the crowd, with Rocky running and stopping abruptly with ease. Other teams worked the dogs during a traffic stop, a mock shootout and the robbery of an officer dressed as a woman pushing a baby carriage.

For the finale, a cruiser pulled over a car with three men inside. When the car’s driver bolted, a trooper got out of the cruiser and sent his dog after the man. When the car’s passenger bolted, another trooper got out of the cruiser and sent his dog after him.

When a third man bolted from the car, an officer popped out of the trunk with his dog and they chased him down.

Have an idea for Animal Tales? Contact Lindsay Tice at 689-2854 or [email protected].

Seven dogs graduating from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy on Friday were named after fallen police officers in Maine:

* Rocky, Auburn police

Named in honor of Rodney “Rocky” Bonney, a Waterford native and Auburn officer who died in 1981 trying to save a teenager in the Androscoggin River.

* Myka, State Police Troop D

Named in honor of Michael Veilloux, a state trooper who died when he lost control of his cruiser and overturned it in Dayton in 1986.

* Howie, State Police Troop G

Named in honor of Lewis Howard, a state trooper who died in 1943 in southern France when a B-17 “Flying Fortress” he was piloting was shot down during World War II.

* Winger, State Police Troop J

Named in honor of Frank Wing, a state trooper who died when his motorcycle collided with an oil truck in Millinocket in 1928.

* Foster, State Police Troop C

Named in honor of Fred Foster, a state trooper who died when his motorcycle struck a horse hauling a load of hay in Belfast in 1925.

* Clint, State Police Troop D

Named in honor of Charles Black, a state trooper shot to death during an armed robbery outside Maine National Bank in South Berwick in 1964.

* Rex, Maine Correctional Center

Named in honor of Durward “Ben” Worster, an officer at the Maine Correctional Center who died in a swimming accident on Sebago Lake in 2012.