Week 10 Continued... K-9 Officers - JCSO Citizen's Academy

Week 10 Continued... K-9 Officers

Sgt Dan Fretz's K-9 partner is Figo, Master Deputy Mark Burn's K-9 partner is Ace and Deputy Travis Turner's K-9 partner is Nora.   Pictured below is Nora doing a brief demonstration.

JCSO uses German Shepherds as their K-9 partners.

I was curious as to what other breeds are used in law enforcement so I did a little research: Here is a list of breeds and the tasks they commonly perform:

Argentine Dogo (protect the officer, attack dog, sniff out bombs, sniff out drugs, sniff out food)

German Shepherd (protect the officer, attack dog, ground based tracking and air based tracking, locating human remains, locating drugs, locating EODs, locating evidence)

Dutch Shepherd (protect the officer, attack dog)

Belgian Malinois (protect the officer, attack dog, locating EODs)

Boxer (protect the officer, attack dog)

Labrador Retriever (sniff out bombs, sniff out drugs)

Doberman Pinscher (protect the officer, attack dog)

Springer Spaniel (sniff out bombs, sniff out drugs)

Bloodhound (Odor Specific ID, trackings, sniff out bombs, sniff out drugs, locating evidence)

Beagle (sniff out bombs, sniff out drugs, sniff out food)

Rottweiler (protect the officer, attack dog)

Giant Schnauzer (protect the officer, attack dog)

Bernese Mountain Dog (finds missing people)

JCSO deputies and their K-9 partners engage in training 6-8 hours weekly to keep up their skills.   Activities K-9 partners are used for include:   Obedience, Article Search, Building Search, Tracking, Aggression Control, and Narcotics Detection.   JCSO mainly uses dogs for narcotics detection and specificly for marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and ecstasy.   Most drug dogs aren't trained to detect ecstasy.   JCSO is unique in that they have included this training with their K-9 partners.

Why use dogs in law enforcement?   Dogs sense of smell is 100 times greater than humans.  Dogs can run up to 32mph compared to humans that top out around 18mph.   Dogs hear 8 times better than humans.

German commands are used mainly because of tradition but also because it's less likely a suspect can confuse the dog by trying to provide a command.   The dogs are trained on one syllable commands that are easy for the trainers to enunciate.

K-9s and their partners certify as a team (handler/dog).   Average work life of a K-9 partner is 7 years.   JCSO purchased their partners using drug forfeiture $.   K-9s can cost $10K or more depending on their training.   It's not a good idea to cross train the dogs for different tasks or try to use them as pets.  The dogs do go home with their trainers but are kept separate from any pets in the home.   Laws prohibit teasing of or harming K-9 partners.

K-9s have many different deployment opportunities:   Detention Centers, Community Corrections, Court House, School Searches, Dept of Revenue, DEA, Neighboring Sheriff's Offices and City Agencies.

JCSO gets their K-9s from either Kansas Highway Patrol or Iron Heart.  When a K-9 partner retires they can either go home with the handler and become part of the handlers family or can be adopted out.