| APD K-9 Patrol Newsletter |
| May 2005 |
| Volume 2, Number 5 |
| K-9 Patrol Unit News |
| The selection process for Officer Eveleth’s new canine partner began and ended on April 8th. In almost record setting time, he found a Belgian Malinois imported from The Netherlands at the Hill Country Dog Center. Many of the other K-9 officers also took time to travel to Pipe Creek, which is near Boerne, to watch the selection process, since everyone is very interested in how the new dog is going fit in with K-9 Patrol. At three years old, the new police dog has developed much of his personality and shows signs of being a friendly, social dog, like Ammo and Chase. This Belgian Malinois already has a KNPV I title from The Netherlands, which includes proven abilities in obedience, searching, guarding, and pursuit. Some Austin police dogs had a similar title when they were purchased, such as Ammo and Chase, while others were complete novices to training, such as Draco. The new dog will begin training immediately. Even with the prior training in the Netherlands, the training here in Austin will be very different for him. The whole training process may take up to four months before he is ready to test for his patrol certification and be ready for the streets. Also, Officer Mierl and Chase have begun narcotics detection training. Chase is a highly motivated search dog and should catch up quickly to the other dogs already in training. |
| Arrest Highlights |
| Arrests made in the month of April include: |
| Officer Davenport & Ammo – Ammo found a hidden fugitive suspected of a stabbing behind an air conditioning unit in David sector. The suspect was arrested for aggravated assault after stabbing a person and fleeing the scene. Thanks to Ammo, he was brought to justice! Officer Ferris & Kozmo – Kozmo assisted Charlie sector by finding a suspect that fled from a burglary of a vehicle. The suspect tried to hide in some very tall grass, but Kozmo was able to sniff him out. Officer White and Bandit – Bandit helped Edward sector on a high-risk car stop. The car was stolen and the two occupants arrested as Bandit backed up officers during the arrests. The suspects were taken into custody safely due to Bandit’s presence on the scene. |
| Community |
| “Name That Dog” Contest The “Name That Dog” Contest officially ended on April 8th. The winner was selected on April 13th from a pool of almost 600 names submitted from 23 Austin-area elementary school fifth-graders. The judges had a number of excellent names from which to choose and settled on one that was very original. The winning name was Vuk (pronounced “Vook”), which is Croatian for wolf. The name Vuk was submitted by Nevil Easterling from Ms. Bush’s 5th-grade class at Patton Elementary School in south Austin. In addition to naming the seventh police dog, the winner received a $100 savings bond, a stuffed toy German Shepherd police dog, two flashing blinky pins, and a K-9 Crime Fighters’ T-shirt. Nevil’s entire class each received a police car flashing blinky, and his teacher received a T-shirt and a police dog magnet. The awards were presented at a pizza bash thrown by the K-9 Patrol Unit at the winner’s school on Thursday, April 28th. Ms. Bush’s class could not have been more enthusiastic and welcoming. Assistant Chief Landeros, Commander Johnson, Sgt. Fitzgerald, Officer DJ Lahr, Officer Daniel Eveleth and Vuk, and Officer Shaun Mierl and Chase of the APD were present at the festivities. Rose Kaminski and Bob Paules of K-9 Crime Fighters handed out the prizes. Officer Mierl and Chase performed an evidence search demonstration by locating a canister that held the winning name for the new dog. Then, Nevil rode with Officer Eveleth and Vuk in their patrol car, while Chase posed with all of Ms. Bush’s students and was wonderfully friendly and patient with everyone. Some pictures of the event are at www.k9crimefighters.com/namethatdog-winners. Some highlights on the names submitted in the contest: The top three names submitted the most often were Bullet (12 times), followed by Rocky (11 times), and Max (10 times). Buddy, Shadow, and Snoop Dog were other highly popular choices. Some of the more original names included Belgian Waffle, Blast Cone, and Dash Danger. There was also a common theme on bravery among many of the names submitted (e.g., Hero, Courage, Valor, as well as quite a few others). See www.k9crimefighters.com/dognames for the entire list. Dogtopia Dog lovers will want to visit the 2nd annual YWCA Dogtopia Celebration at Eilers Park (aka Deep Eddy Pool) at 401 Deep Eddy Avenue on May 7th from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. This free event is directed at having fun with dogs, kids, and families. All proceeds benefit Austin’s YWCA of Greater Austin. K-9 Crime Fighters will operate an information booth for at least half of the day. More info on the YWCA’s event is at: http://www.austin360.com/calendar/cgi/shared/events/calendar/events.html?id=Calendar::Event%3d51780 |
| Upcoming |
| Dogtopia on Saturday, May 7th, 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. at Deep Eddy Pool. Texas Police Games K-9 competition on Thursday, June 16th. |
| Texas Police Games Update: Due to a variety of reasons, including some canine health issues that came up unexpectedly, no Austin K-9 Patrol Teams will participate this year. However, we might just scope out the competition this time around in preparation for next year. |
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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 12/22/2005 |
| Web Site Update: K9 Crime Fighters has several new pages that went active in April, including the Links web page. They’ve listed businesses that have been supportive of APD’s K-9 Patrol Unit and/or K-9 Crime Fighters. Please visit www.k9crimefighters.com and click on Links for more information. |
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