Headline Surfer chose this video from YouTube to illustrate the beauty and power of the German shepherd. Those who want to challenge a police dog may want to check out this clip first.
By HENRY FREDERICK / Headline Surfer
PORT ORANGE, Fla. -- Headline Surfer called around to the the cop shops in Volusia County about their canine dogs and Port Orange Asst. Police Chief Wayne Miller wrote up the following which we found impressive enough to break out into a sidebar story.
We started our canine program here at POPD in 2005, via a federal grant and purchased a drug detection dog. The breed of the dog was a labrador retriever. This canine unit supports the patrol and criminal investigations improving effectiveness in the suppression of criminal activity.
The initial canine program was very successful and with such we expanded our program and purchased a second drug detection dog, also a labrador retriever, in 2007, via a federal grant.
This enabled the night shift on two of the four patrol platoons to have access to the drug detection teams seven nights per week. In 2009 we added two additional dual purpose canines to our program.
Two German shepherds trained not only in narcotics detection but also in tracking, structure searches, searching of missing persons, suspect apprehension and officer safety were purchased with seized forfeiture funds.
This brought the total canine teams to four at Port Orange PD. The addition of the latest two canine teams to the initial two teams allowed for one canine team to be assigned to each of the four patrol platoons and allows a 24/7 operation of each canine team day and night. As our canine program continues, it has proven to be a valuable asset to the law enforcement community.
The officers assigned to the canine teams and their canine is as follows:
Platoon 1 - Officer Hannalora Walker with canine Lobo (lab);
Platoon 2 - Officer Steven Nagy with canine Bella (lab);
Platoon 3 - Officer Jeremy Bird with canine Damon (German shepherd);
Platoon 4 - Officer Justin White with canine Rex (German shepherd).
EDITOR'S NOTE: Below are links to the main story (which is first) and the other side stories:
http://www.nsbnews.net/content/407902-edgewater-police-departments-new-k-9-means-bad-karma-crooks