News from Tarheel Canine Training Inc.

"Selling" the K9 Unit to Patrol

Jerry Bradshaw

The K9 division in most police organizations is available to support the patrol division. How well the regular patrol division and the K9 unit interact depends on a few important issues.

Faliliarity

It is incumbant on the K9 unit to invite patrol officers to training. Too often the K9 unit trains independently, yet, they are working to support the patrol division. Unless regular patrol officers come to training, they won't know the right way to behave around the K9. Over time some patrol officers get familiar with the K9 division by calling them out, but K9 guys often assume that the patrol guys actually know how to work around K9s when that is not actually the case.

Unless as K9 officers, you make presentations to patrol to explain how to operate in a tracking scenario, don't be quick to criticize patrol officers for failing to minimize contamination of a scene. They must be taught how the K9 can save time and effort on the part of patrol officers. I always try to remind K9 handlers that cops are by nature proactive, so if they lose a guy in a jump and run, they want to take the initiative to follow and find him. It takes restraint and understanding to realize that creating a perimeter and calling in K9 is not a waste of valuable time, but rather the right way to efficiently locate and apprehend a suspect rather than tromping around in the dark contaminating the scent picture.

Confidence

If patrol calls out the dog for a drug search in a traffic stop, and the dog fails to locate any contraband, the officer may assume the dog is wrong. After all the officer who called in for K9 thought the car contained contraband. If this happens too often the assumption will be that the dog is not capable of finding anything. If however, the officer is invited to training, he can see the dogs working and locating, and passing up blank cars, and get an appreciation for the quality of the K9s. Too often, assumptions based on only a few interactions can be made that a dog is ineffective, when that is actually not the case. It is the responsibility of K9 to sell their program to patrol. Make presentations and invite patrol officers to participate in training scenarios, like traffic stops. Make regular legal update presentations to keep your patrol guys up to speed on K9 case law. This interaction shows respect for the patrol officers, and allows K9 to educate and build confidence in their unit.

Additionally, if K9 gets a reputation for being lazy and not training, other patrol officers will see it in the dog's performance and lose confidence in the K9. As a K9 officer you are required to do 6 hours a week, but this is a minimum. A truly dedicated K9 officer trains all the time, and trains on his own to make his team effective and efficient. This dedication to training will also create confidence.

Exposure

In call outs for building and area searches, it is important to remember that regular patrol officers may be uneasy around your K9. They don't want to get bit. Unless you practice scenarios such as building searches and area searches with the patrol guys you are going to support, they will not know how to act around your dog. On a building search, if the back-up officer is not comfortable with your K9, he will pay attention to the dog (your job) rather than his area of responsibility. This can lead to someone getting injured or worse, killed. Where good relationships exist between Patrol and K9, officers feel comfortable working with the K9 and the K9 picks up on this. If the backup officer shows fear or unease, the dog will not work effectively. It is also good training for the dog to work around multiple back up officers rather than just other K9 guys.

This exposure is also extremely important in tracking operations, where backup runs with the K9 officer as his safety officer. In rural tracking, this backup officer is responsible for the handler's safety, so skimping on exposure is a big risk to both handler and backup.

K9 officers should take the time to create a powerpoint brief to help patrol understand what you know. Help them understand how to prepare a scene for a successful track. Show them what you need to get your dog to work effectively on a traffic stop when you are searching for contraband. Let them watch your dog work so they can understand the changes in behavior you are looking for during a building search (when your back-up may have a bettter vantage point) or area search. Interaction breeds familiarity, and confidence. Exposure leads to a level of comfort with your K9. It is the K9 officer's responsibility to keep selling the benefits of the program to everyone.