JONESVILLE — Since he went to work in March, Max the Belgian Malinois has proved to be a valuable asset to the Jonesville Police Department.

Max rides with Officer James Owens and has helped make arrests in several drug cases for both Jonesville and Pacolet police, with whom Jonesville has a reciprocal agreement.

In fact, Pacolet Police appreciates Max so much, they recently gave him body armor to protect him as he works.

“They help us out a lot,” said Pacolet Police Chief Robert Ivey. “Officer Owens has always been there for me when we’ve called him, whether he was on or off duty. We’ve done some DUI saturations before and made several stops with his assistance and made some drug charges against people. Max is valuable not only to the Jonesville Police Department, but to Pacolet also. I appreciate him and I know all the men who work with me do. Max does a good job. Officer Owens has a good dog there. We came across a vest and we didn’t have a dog and I said I knew somebody who could use it.”

Max, who is 2 years old, was trained at a special canine school in North Carolina. Owens trained with him for two weeks before Max began riding with him. All of Max’s commands are given in Dutch. Max lives with Owens, his wife and children, who are 11, 5 and eight months.

“They love him to death and he is great with the kids,” Owens said.

Max eats only Iams dry dog food — no treats or table scraps. Encountering such food while searching a car or house for drugs might be a diversion if Max were accustomed to consuming it.

“He is an asset not only to the department, but to the community,” Owens said. “We’ve had a lot of luck with him. Everytime I’ve deployed him I’ve had substantial luck with him.”

Max has helped seize cash, marijuana and cocaine, including 19 1/2 grams of crack during a traffic stop with the Highway Patrol.

Along with Pacolet, other area law enforcement agencies sometimes call on Owens and Max to assist in narcotics searches. They have worked with the Union County Sheriff’s Office and the Highway Patrol.

Jonesville Police Chief Jimmy Wilkins said he was a little apprehensive when the department began considering acquiring a narcotics dog — an experience in the past with a dog had not worked out well because the canine was too aggressive.

When Max made his debut at Jonesville Town Council, he won members over when he happily jumped into a councilman’s lap.

“It has worked out ral well,” Wilkins said. “He has helped take a lot of drugs off the street that probably would have been missed by somebody manually searching a vehicle. If somebody has enough drugs to sell they are going to try and hide it as well as they can.”