The Renton Police Department will soon be getting a new K-9 officer, thanks to a somewhat unexpected source.

Renton was one of two local police organizations that received K-9 grants from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation’s Giving Back Fund, started by the Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback of the same name.

During the 2015-16 NFL season, the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation is distributing grants to K-9 units of police and fire departments in the cities and surrounding communities of each regular season away game for the Steelers, who played Sunday in Seattle.

This marks the ninth season that the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation has distributed grants to K-9 units. The bellevue Police Department also received a grant for a K-9 balistic vest.

The Renton Police Department is planning to use the grant to add a narcotics trained K-9 to its existing team of three tracking dogs with their Patrol Division.

“This donation allows us to start a new canine program that will greatly improve our ability to investigate narcotic crimes in Renton,” Chief Kevin Milosevich said in a press release.

“We haven’t had a narcotics dog for years and years,” Commander David Leibman, spokesman for the department, said this week.

According to Leibman, the grant is for approximately $7,500 and will serve as “seed money” for the department to buy, train and equip a new K-9 officer, one that will be dedicated to the narcotics team.

“This will make it a lot more efficient for us to investigate narcotics-related cases,” he said.

Police dogs are trained for specific purposes, so a tracking dog can not be used for narcotics investigations and vice versa. Leibman said a narcotics dog will help officers find drugs that suspects may be able to hide from human eyes, but not a canine nose.

Leibman said the grant would not fully cover the cost of the dog and its training, but that without the grant, they would not be able to go forward at all.

“We’re very fortunate to be in the position that we are able to help these K-9 units,” Roethlisberger said in a press release. “The work that is performed by the dogs and their handlers as well as the bond that is formed is incredible. We’re just thrilled to do our small part.”

But don’t worry, Seahawks fans, Leibman said the K-9 grant does not come with any restrictions about naming the dog “Steeler” or “Big Ben” or anything like that, and that despite having a black and yellow background, the department is welcome to raise a good, local 12th Dog.

“We can try,” Leibman said with a laugh.