K-9s recertify here this week
Police dogs put through their paces
Twenty-six police dogs from agencies around the three-state region will be tested today and Thursday on their ability to find hidden drugs.
The field trials, using both vehicles and furnished rooms, are part of the U.S. Police Canine Association’s certification requirements for K-9s used on patrol and narcotics raids. The dogs, their handlers and a few of their fans arrived Monday to start the process. Some — like Diesel, Amats and Ash of the Rome Police Department — are old hands renewing their certificates. Others have just completed their minimum 12 weeks of training.
USPCA Region 22 Chief Judge Billy Moore said the dogs have to pass several phases to be certified.
“You can’t just put a dog in a car and say he’s a police dog,” Moore said. “You need a standard.”
Region 22 covers Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. Field trials, usually offered twice a year, are held in various cities. The RPD is sponsoring this week’s event, with phases set up behind the Levee, at the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds and State Mutual Stadium.
Moore, from Huntsville, Alabama, said there also are three “bomb dogs” that will be judged on finding explosives in vehicles, rooms and parcels. The test includes placement of distractor-odors such as Cheerios, video tape, crayons, batteries, aspirin and rubber bands. Meanwhile, the other 26 “dual purpose” dogs will be trying to locate narcotics that may or may not be hidden in their targets.
“It’ll be a very small amount,” Moore said. “Maybe a marijuana cigarette or one hit of cocaine.”
The regional trials started off with the patrol dog phases. Each animal was scored on obedience and agility, which included jumping over obstacles such as fences and through windows, climbing an angled ladder to a raised platform and crawling through a pipe. The search phases involved finding evidence like a credit card, key ring or shotgun shell in tall grass and a “suspect” hiding in one of six identical boxes.
Self-control is important, too. Dogs that relieve themselves during the search phase are automatically docked 10 points.
Tuesday was dedicated to criminal apprehension trials at the Rome Braves baseball stadium.
“That’s the most complicated phase,” Moore said. “There are a lot of different elements. And then they have to turn around and do it under gunfire.”
Blanks, of course. But judges on the field got a good feel for each animal’s enthusiasm when the well-padded decoy took off down the marked course, then turned and fired loud shots at the dog and handler.
Each dog was scored on how well it waited for an order before chasing the running “suspect,” called a decoy, and how quickly it obeyed a command to stop. The actual apprehension part included a brief fight to gauge reaction and a handler-protection element when the decoy began “resisting arrest.”
Beau, with handler Brandon Taylor of the Elberton, Alabama, police department, passed with flying colors after he was whirled through the air several times but never released the decoy’s arm.
“He’s doing pretty well for his first time,” Taylor said.
Moore said most dogs pass the certification
trials, since they’re not usually entered unless they’re ready. If they fail a phase, “If they have a bad day,” he said the agency can still use the dog until the next certification trials after two weeks of extra training on that element.
“You’ve got to leave a little room for problems like that,” Moore said. “You don’t want to have a $10,000 dog not working for a year.”
Certifications are good through Dec. 31 of the following year. Dogs certified this week will keep their status through the end of 2019.