March 26, 2026
by Carla Hay
Some language in German with subtitles
Culture Representation: The true crime documentary series “K9 PD With Jim Belushi” features a predominantly white group of people (with some African Americans and Latin people) who are connected in some way to American police making arrests and doing investigations with K9 units.
Culture Clash: The series, which features different cases per episode, shows the trained police dogs sniffing out evidence or chasing and capturing fleeing suspects during these arrests.
Culture Audience: “K9 PD With Jim Belushi” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in true crime documentaries with police camera footage that shows law enforcement officers and police dogs at work.
“K9 PD with Jim Belushi” is a cheap imitation of other true crime docuseries that do ride-alongs with law enforcement officers who use police dogs in their work. Jim Belushi hosts the show with an often-garbled narration voice. Except for actor Belushi’s celebrity name and on-camera narration, there’s nothing about this show that makes it stand out from other documentary-styled shows that do the same thing.
“K9 PD With Jim Belushi” is produced for A&E by Law & Crime with Karla Hidalgo, Dan Abrams, Rachel Stockman and Melody Shafir serving as executive producers. Jim Belushi serves as executive producer. Shelly Tatro and Sean Gottlieb serve as executive producers for A&E. “K9 PD With Jim Belushi” is filmed in various parts of the United States.
Episodes of the first season of “K9 PD With Jim Belushi” were not available for review in advance. This review covers the series’ first two episodes: “On the Scent” and “Hot Pursuits.” Various cases are featured in this episode, with each episode having a disclaimer that all suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If the case has been closed, then Belushi’s narration mentions the outcome of the case. In these two episodes, all the dogs shown in these K9 units are German Shepherds. They also are trained in commands in the German language.
Each episode begins by showing Belushi saying on camera: “Out there, you’ve got two kinds of cops: the ones that flash their badges, and the ones that flash before your eyes. These highly trained canines do what they do best: They catch bad guys, find illegal drugs, and they put their tails on the line.”
“On the Scent” features a K9 unit dog named Duder chasing and catching 43-year-old Daniel Eugene Bolden, in Marion County Florida, on April 30, 2019. He was stopped after a car chase that went up to 100 miles per hours. Bolden pleaded guilty to fleeing and eluding, resisting and officer without violence, criminal mischief, burglary and grand theft auto. He served nearly two years in a Florida prison.
On September 8, 2023, in Puyallup, Washington, a police dog named Ice helped apprehend 34-year-old Randall Reed in a backyard shed. Reed fled the scene of a Game Stop store, whose front entrance had been rammed through with a vehicle. Reed pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
In San Diego, a police dog named Chico is seen catching 34-year-old Evan Baltsas in a grassy area on February 23, 2024, after a police chase because Baltsas was accused of stealing a trick. Baltsas pleaded guilty to reckless evading for sale of methamphetamine. He was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison.
A police dog named Dubby in Valencia, New Mexico, sniffs out and catches 41-year-old Amy Pendleton in hiding in a house bathroom on December 18, 2024. She is accused of the first-degree murders of 61-year-old John Miramontes and 64-year-old George Yzquierdo, who were found shot on the property. Her case is pending.
In the episode titled “Hot Pursuits,” police dogs are seeing being attacked by fleeing suspects. On November 20, 2021, 39-year-old Brandon Keele is seen trying to gouge the eyes of police dog Haywire, who fortunately did not have serious injuries. Keele pleaded guilty to to armed assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Meanwhile, two police dogs (Ax and Endo) are shot separately by 41-year-old Shedrick Singleton during a foot chase in a residential neighborhood in Valusa County, Florida, on September 10, 2021. Both dogs recovered from their injuries. Ax retired after the recovery, but Endo continued to work as a police dog. Singleton pleaded guilty to carjacking with a firearm, injury to a police dog by using a firearm and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
A police dog named Rico in Columbia County, Wisconsin, is seen sniffing out THC products in the vehicle of 40-year-old Matthew McGinnis, who was pulled over during a traffic stop. He pleaded no contest to THC possession and fleeing a crime scene and spent 90 days in jail.
On a sweltering day on July 8, 2024, a police dog named King went on a rigorous foot chase of 35-year-old William Miller. The chase also involved several police vehicles. Miller pleaded not guilty to resisting and obstructing an officer with no violence. His case is pending.
“K9 PD With Jim Belushi” is just a series of scenes showing people getting arrested, usually after a K9 unit dog chased after them and caught them with a severe bite hold. The suspects’ faces and mug shots are shown on camera. After a while, it all becomes monotonous and predictable to watch.
“K9 PD With Jim Belushi” fails to give any information about these dogs other than their names and where they work. You won’t find out anything about the dogs’ police handlers either. Everything is presented in a formulaic way where the outcome is always the same: Someone gets arrested, and a police dog was used in some way during the arrest.
Belushi doesn’t have a lot of flair or charisma in his narration and often reads the script like he’s reading a phone book. His voice often sounds mush-mouthed. If you want to watch a TV series whose main highlights are repetitive scenes showing police dogs chasing after criminal suspects and capturing them with bite holds, then “K9 PD With Jim Belushi” is for you.
A&E premiered “K9 PD With Jim Belushi” on March 25, 2026.