WAOW – Newsline 9, Wausau News, Weather, Sports​

A growing number of police agencies are using K-9 units. At least two departments in the central Wisconsin area are in the process of getting their own. This comes at a time of growing drug addiction in the area.

Foster is one of three K-9 units with The Wausau Police Department. Officer Foster loves tennis balls, so that’s exactly how his handler rewards him when he does something good, like finding illegal drugs. “Foster’s sense of smell is so strong that not only could he smell the illegal drugs, but he could also smell them through a sealed glass container,” said David Landretti, Foster’s handler. The K-9 units help with everything from finding drugs, to searching for missing people, and even connecting with the community. The units are so effective that a growing number of police departments are adding them. The Marathon County Sheriff’s Department is in the process of getting two dogs. “The atmosphere, I think, with the whole department is it’s something that’s long overdue,” said Lt. Bill Millhausen of the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department. The sheriff’s department paid for the new dogs and their training with donations from the community. They are still looking for more donations to pay for equipment for the units. Officers agree, the K-9 units are a major asset to combat the area’s growing drug problem. The Merrill Police Department has been relying heavily police dogs during narcotics searches, but they don’t actually have their own. According to Merrill Police Chief Ken Neff, the Merrill Police Department has called on neighboring departments for K-9 assistance 40 times since July. The police department recently received a grant from the Bierman Family Foundation to get it own K-9 officer. “The way it will change is that we’ll have a much more aggressive drug enforcement tool than what we have now,” said Neff. He says he hopes to have the unit ready by next summer.

http://www.waow.com/story/23846378/2013/10/31/more-police-dogs-coming-to-the-state

Police dog handlers descended on Whakatane Intermediate today to recognise 30 years of support from the school, treating children to an impressive display of canine crime-fighting.

For 30 years the school has given an award to recognise the outstanding police dog and handler in the Bay of Plenty.

This year the display showcased obedience, tracking, agility and crime-fighting.

Children watched rapt as search and rescue dog Hera was lowered from a helicopter onto the school field with her handler, Warren Sangster, to locate an “injured” person.

Dogs and armed offenders squad members helped to “capture” four offenders responsible for a fictitious armed robbery.

This year’s award went to Senior Constable Kayne Cording and Yoda, of Tauranga, for an incident in which they caught the driver of stolen car after a police chase had to be abandoned.

They battled through blackberry brambles before locating the man, who was hiding in a tree in an avocado orchard.

Cording said he had been striving to win the award ever since he joined the squad.

“I’ve finally cracked it,” he said “What makes it ever more special is that it is the 30th year.”

Dog handlers who received the award spoke of it being the highlight of their careers and he was proud to take it home, he said.

Police Minister Anne Tolley said the award fostered goodwill between the police and the community “and helped break down any barrier that might have been there between the police and young people”.

National MP Mark Mitchell, an ex-police dog handler, said he was proud to have won the award in 2000.

“It is a really cool award and it is so good because it is picked by the children. So it is from their perspective,” he said.

“They look at the stories and they say ‘yep, that is who we think was the best performing team that year’.

“It is a real honour to get it. Dog handlers in the Bay of Plenty consider it a real honour if they are picked and then if they get this award.

“It was absolutely an honour for me.”

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9353422/Police-dogs-display-canine-crime-fighting

Police dog handlers descended on Whakatane Intermediate today to recognise 30 years of support from the school, treating children to an impressive display of canine crime-fighting. For 30 years the school has given an award to recognise the outstanding police dog and handler in the Bay of Plenty. This year the display showcased obedience, tracking, agility and crime-fighting. Children watched rapt as search and rescue dog Hera was lowered from a helicopter onto the school field with her handler, Warren Sangster, to locate an “injured” person. Dogs and armed offenders squad members helped to “capture” four offenders responsible for a fictitious armed robbery. This year’s award went to Senior Constable Kayne Cording and Yoda, of Tauranga, for an incident in which they caught the driver of stolen car after a police chase had to be abandoned. They battled through blackberry brambles before locating the man, who was hiding in a tree in an avocado orchard. Cording said he had been striving to win the award ever since he joined the squad. “I’ve finally cracked it,” he said “What makes it ever more special is that it is the 30th year.” Dog handlers who received the award spoke of it being the highlight of their careers and he was proud to take it home, he said. Police Minister Anne Tolley said the award fostered goodwill between the police and the community “and helped break down any barrier that might have been there between the police and young people”. National MP Mark Mitchell, an ex-police dog handler, said he was proud to have won the award in 2000. “It is a really cool award and it is so good because it is picked by the children. So it is from their perspective,” he said. “They look at the stories and they say ‘yep, that is who we think was the best performing team that year’. “It is a real honour to get it. Dog handlers in the Bay of Plenty consider it a real honour if they are picked and then if they get this award. “It was absolutely an honour for me.” http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9353422/Police-dogs-display-canine-crime-fighting

The police department here has acquired two new police dogs. The German Shepherd-Belgian Malinois mixes are being brought on as another dog, Aron, nears retirement.

NBC40.net

In the six months since the Boston Marathon bombings, the demand for bomb-sniffing dogs has risen sharply across the country, and here locally. The Atlantic County K9 Academy is in the process of training one of the largest classes they’ve seen in recent years, which hit the road to get real-life practice.

They are hot on the trail of becoming some of the region’s newest explosive detection teams.  “I don’t think there’s any greater tool law enforcement has than the K9 dog,” said Joe Rodriguez, Supervising trainer for the Atlantic County “John Sonny Burke” K9 Academy. It’s a tool that has come into high demand in the six months following the Boston Marathon bombings. The academy is seeing more enrollments in their specialized scent class. “One of the largest ones we’ve had in years,” said Rodriguez of the current, “we have 18 handlers, new handlers in. That’s probably double, sometimes triple, what we usually have here.”

“She’s our first, it’s a brand new unit for us,” said Julie Wesley, an Officer with The University of Pennsylvania Police Department of her K9 partner, Socks, “we host a lot of large scale events at the university, so it just eliminates the need for us to go to outside agencies to do sweeps of our buildings.”

Now halfway through their 14-weeks of training, the teams were out in public practicing what they’ve learned, searching the Atlantic City Boardwalk and Boardwalk Hall for planted bombs. “We like to train in real life situations and real life places where everybody goes.”

This type of environmental training is vital for the teams, especially the dogs, so they can familiarize themselves with these areas. Before the Miss America Pageant, K9 teams were out in that area two months in advance preparing. “Where ever we’re going to be, we get them used to the escalators, the elevators, the tunnels and everything they’re gonna encounter,” explained Rodriguez, “we try to do that in training so there’s no problems when they go real world.”

Besides this being one of the largest scent classes for the academy, this is also the most amount of female officers to go through at once. “It’s been wonderful experience,” said Tonya Perednas, an officer with the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office, “all of us females have really learned a lot with our partners, we blend right in with the rest of the guys in class.”

“Its our first time that we have had four female officers in the class, but we have one standard and they meet that standard, just like everybody else,” said Rodriguez, “and we have one goal, and that’s to protect the public.”

In 2010 the Pentagon spent $19 billion and 6 years researching high-tech bomb detection systems, but ultimately concluded dogs are still the most effective.

http://www.nbc40.net/story/23845453/explosive-sniffing-dogs-in-high-demand-6-months-after-boston-bombings