| APD K-9 Patrol Newsletter |
| January 2006 |
| Volume 3, Number 1 |
| Certifications |
| Annual K-9 Patrol certifications are coming up next month and the certification process is changing this year. This year the unit is scheduled to certify under a National K-9 Association called NNDDA (see left column). Here’s what the testing covers: 1. Obedience - dog must sit, heel, stay, and down by voice and hand signals. The handler and a third party conducts gunfire during the test. The dog must ignore the gunfire and follow commands. 2. Building Search - dog must find a hidden person inside a building. The dog must indicate to the handler where the person is located and the handler must tell the judging official. 3. Area Search - dog must find a hidden person in an outside area approximately the size of a city block. The dog must indicate to the handler where the person is located and the handler must tell the judging official. 4. Criminal Apprehension - dog must engage a helper upon command from the handler and release the apprehension by voice command only. The handler then will “frisk” the helper for weapons. The helper will attack the handler and the dog must apprehend the helper. The handler then “frisks” the suspect again; this time the helper will not attack the handler. The dog must not apprehend the helper this time, but stay in the down position and guard only. The dog must then do a standoff, where the helper runs and the dog is sent after him. The helper then gives up before the dog contacts the helper. The dog must return to the heel without apprehension. 5. Evidence Search - dog must find two out of three hidden items in a large grassy field. One item will be a pistol; the other two may be a wallet, credit card, knife, etc. Officer Eveleth and Vuk are also scheduled to certify with the rest of the unit after many months nursing his injured dog and finally getting to do his required training. Vuk has been a very interesting dog to train and it will be a great pleasure to have him on the streets with us! |
| Arrest Highlights |
| Arrests made in the month of December include: |
| Officer Mierl & Chase: Chase found a suspect that was breaking into cars in Adam sector. The suspect was hiding in a backyard on a woodpile. Chase also found a subject in Adam sector that was attempting suicide. The suspect had engaged in binge drinking and ran into the woods yelling that he wanted to die. Chase found him passed out under some bushes. The hospital stated he was so intoxicated that Chase saved the man’s life. |
| Officer White & Bandit: Bandit found a burglary suspect hiding inside a business in Ida sector. Several businesses in the area were broken into this same night. At this business, officers heard the suspect inside. Officer White gave warnings and the suspect ran outside, saw officers, and ran back inside. Bandit finally located the suspect hiding inside a bathroom. The suspect had attempted to use bleach on the floor to cover his scent and throw the dog off. Bandit worked through the distraction and the suspect was arrested. |
| K-9 Patrol Unit News |
| Applications for the new K-9 handler closed on December 26th. The K-9 Selection Board will take place the first part of January 2006. Officers will go through a long interview process with Sgt. Fitzgerald, Officer Lahr, Officer Davenport, and Officer White. A history of the officer’s conduct and record with the police department will be reviewed as well as the person’s ability to work with a police dog and fit within the Unit as an officer and handler. |
| Upcoming |
| - New handler selection board |
| - New patrol dog will be selected and tested in early 2006 |
2006 National Patrol K-9 Certification This is the first time in the APD K-9 Unit’s history that the dogs will have a national title. The association is called the National Narcotic Detector Dog Association (NNDDA). The NNDDA not only certifies narcotic dogs, but also patrol dogs. You can check out their Web site at: http://www.nndda.org |
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| APD K-9 PATROL INFORMATION CONTACT: Officer DJ Lahr darrin.lahr@ci.austin.tx.us EDITOR: Rose Kaminski rose@k9crimefighters.com WE’RE ON THE WEB! For more information: www.k9crimefighters.com |
| Last updated 1/2/2006 |
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| Community |
| A big thanks to Paul Ortner! Because of Paul, we have some photographs of the Milk Bone Police Dog Donation event on December 2nd. Most of the pictures are available for viewing at www.k9crimefighters.com/photos4, but there is one on Photo Page 3, and one more on Vuk’s page at www.k9crimefighters.com/k9vuk. Also, the Austin-American Statesman took a picture at the event that became one of their Photos of the Day for December 3rd. You can see it at www.statesman.com/news/content/photos.pod/120305/index.html. We think it’s a great picture, but our local newspaper made several errors in the caption. For our more attentive readers, the man in the bite suit is DJ (not AJ) and the police K-9 attacking him is K-9 Chase (not Vuk). |
| - Patrol K-9 certifications in February, including Officer Eveleth and Vuk |