| APD K-9 Patrol Newsletter |
| July 2005 |
| Volume 2, Number 7 |
| General Update |
| K-9 Patrol is very busy. We are working on training two new police dogs. Vuk is recovering from his leg injury and has been able to start some very basic work, and we are continuing to search and test for a new dog for Officer Forbes. Meanwhile, SWAT dogs are moving forward with more training and the drug program continues. On top of all this, we still made some interesting arrests this month! |
| Arrest Highlights |
| Arrests made in the month of June include: |
| Draco and Chase team up to find suspect and drugs on apartment roof! Officer Lahr & Draco and Officer Mierl & Chase – Draco and Chase worked together to find a hidden suspect on Grand Canyon Dr. in Edward Sector. The suspect ran from a traffic stop and officers lost him in an apartment complex. Officers Lahr and Mierl arrived and searched the area. Both Draco and Chase gave very difficult-to-read scent indications in the same spot in the complex. Edward officers and the handlers searched the entire area and could not locate what the dogs were scenting, but Lahr and Mierl would not give up. They retraced the steps of the suspect and the scent indications of the dogs. After seeing part of a fence broken, Lahr climbed the fence and noticed the apartment roof could be accessed from this location. He saw that old leaves on the roof were disturbed and found a bag of crack cocaine lying there. Lahr climbed up on the roof and searched and found the suspect lying down on the roof in a hidden depression. Thanks to both dogs’ scent indications and the handlers’ tenacity, a dangerous suspect was taken off the street along with his drugs! Chase finds hidden burglary suspect Officer Mierl & Chase – Chase found a suspect hiding in a backyard on Colony Creek in Ida Sector. The suspect ran from officers and was wanted for a Burglary of a Residence. Chase gave great scent indications, taking his handler right to the hidden location. Officer Lahr & Draco: Draco helped take a suspect wanted for drug dealing into custody on E. Rundberg in Ida Sector. The suspect ran from police and hid in a creek bed. Draco stood guard as officers took the suspect into custody. Officer Mierl & Chase: Chase found two suspects wanted for graffiti on Hargrave in Charlie Sector. The suspects were “tagging” a business and ran from police. Chase found both suspects in different areas hiding in the brush. Officer Mierl & Chase: Chase also assisted Ida officers on Jamestown when a handcuffed prisoner escaped from police custody. The suspect was hiding in a carport. Chase stood guard as officers took him back into custody. The suspect decided not to run the second time with Chase watching him!Officer Lahr & Draco and Officer Mierl & Chase: Draco and Chase teamed up again on Quail Blvd. in Ida Sector to search for two auto theft suspects. Officers located a stolen car and made a high-risk car stop to take the suspects into custody. Both Chase and Draco arrived to watch the driver and passenger sides of the suspect vehicle. The two suspects complied with all directions from the officers and were taken into custody without further incident. |
| Because of all the additional work and activity in K-9, Narcotics detection training is progressing slowly. However, Officer Ferris and Kozmo & Officer Lahr and Draco have learned to recognize the general scent of marijuana and cocaine and are currently working on crack cocaine. Next up for them will be heroin. Because of their later start in the program, Officer Mierl and Chase are still learning to detect marijuana, but are catching up fast. The first step is to introduce a drug odor to the dog using the scent boxes, then the next steps are to place that odor in vehicles and buildings for the dog to detect in more “natural” surroundings. A narcotics detector dog is not certified and able to work the streets until he is able to reliably sniff out the four drugs: marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines. |
| Training |
| K-9 Patrol Unit News |
| Upcoming |
| Pending - New police canine for Officer Forbes. June 2006 - Texas Police Games, K-9 Events. Hopefully, next year the timing will be right for the health and training of our dogs and we can have some entries from APD at the games in South Padre Island! |
| 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 12/22/2005 |
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| Since Aztek has retired, K-9 Patrol went to World Wide Canine to select a new police dog for Officer Rich Forbes on June 23rd, but were unable to find a suitable canine. The search will continue…Vuk is still recovering from his leg injury, but he recently has restarted light training with work in obedience. Surprisingly, he is doing extremely well and hasn’t regressed with his forced inactivity. |
| Training |
| With his work supervising K-9 Patrol, Sgt. Fitzgerald has needed help for his new duties overseeing Search and Rescue (SAR) since he took it over and now has it with Mike Teran. Mike has 20 years of emergency work experience in the Travis County area and is the Vice-President of Travis County Search and Rescue. He is also officially certified as a SAR Technician III, an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-D), and is a Swiftwater Rescue Technician. Mike will be of invaluable assistance in getting SAR back up and running. |
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