Houston ASPCA Officer Charles Jansen rescues a rottweiler left on the side of the road after allegedly being struck by a car.

Altus Police Department added a new K-9 Unit to their agency after receiving “Destiny,” a 2-year-old German Shepard provided to the City at no cost through Universal K9 located in San Antonio, Texas. Destiny and her handler, Officer Jerry Downen, have undergone intensive training to allow APD to have a third active K-9 Unit on the road at all times to get drugs off of the Altus streets.

“It’s a great day for us to have another dog in the street,” APD Chief Deputy Mike Bell said. Bell learned about a grant opportunity to receive a drug dog through Universal K9, valued at $8,000 -$10,000, covering the entire cost to rescue and train Destiny. A separate grant from a company in California will offset the cost for sending Officer Downen to San Antonio for two weeks to train with Destiny at Universal K9. Destiny received four weeks of training in San Antonio before Downen arrived. The only expense to the City of Altus was to upgrade one Dodge Charger equipped as K-9 vehicle, Bell explained.

After the Altus Police Department sent out an email looking to promote an officer to work in a K-9 unit, Downen’s interest lead to an initial evaluation period and an interview. Finally, APD Chief of Police Tim Murphy selected the person he felt was best qualified.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I started here. It’s just been a dream of mine,” said Downen. “I really like her. She works really well, and we finally get to be a good team.” Downen said he is eager to “get drugs off of the street and make big drug busts.”

Downen will likely be paired with Destiny throughout his entire career, Bell explained, as the canine typically has only one handler. “The longer they work together the better they work together,” Bell said. The new unit will continue to train with two other APD K-9 handlers until early December before being certified by the State of Oklahoma.

Destiny’s fate was changed when Universal K9 rescued her from being euthanized in an animal shelter in the San Antonio area. “She was about to be put down, and was saved from a shelter by Universal K9,” Downen said. The company goes to shelters and looks for dogs with the right aptitude for performing drug dog work. “The company works with them for several weeks before deciding if they are right,” Downen explained. “If not, they try to find a better home for them.”

Destiny was selected by the dog training company for her ambitious character. “The drive is what they are looking for,” Bell explained. “The dog has got to have drive. When there are drugs in the room she would start looking right away.”

“We’re fed up with the drugs,” Bell said. “We’re gonna do our job to keep our children safe as far as schools and everything like that. That’s the reason I went out and actually found the dog and brought it in, and selected this young man to take it over. I think he’s going to do a really good job. The two of them are going to be really great in the future. Officer Downen got out there and started chasing drugs the first day he started working, and he’s gotten really good at it. I think that’s goning to help us with this dog because now I’ve given him another tool to go out there and help him do something he’s good at.”

“Our dogs are very active,” Bell added. Destiny will not only serve the Altus Police Department, by like the other K-9 units, will assist Jackson County Sheriff Department and Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

http://www.altustimes.com/news/home_top/2698514/New-K-9-unit-joins-APD-in-fight-against-drugs

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 29, 2013): A policewoman has successfully completed training to become a corporal in the canine (K9) unit, making her the first female police officer in the country to do so.

Corporal Hilda Wilson Gunong, 29, said she has been waiting a long time to join the unit.

“I really love animals, especially dogs. It took me four months (to complete) the K9 unit training at IPD Sepang and I am really happy that my dream has come true,” she said.

Gunong said she has served in the Royal Malaysian Police for the past six years, previously in the technical photo support unit.

“As a K9 handler, you need to be a pet lover so it would be easy to handle (dogs).

“You also need to be attached to them, and if they (make) mistakes, immediately correct them,” she said after the K9 unit performance at the Police Training Centre (Pulapol) here today.

She hopes that more policewomen would come forward to join the unit.

Meanwhile, principal assistant director (D6) of Bukit Aman criminal investigation department (CID) technical assistance head ACP Ibrahim Chim said the K9 unit is now focusing on assisting Ops Cantas, following the unit’s success in helping police operations.

“The K9 unit have trained 145 dogs nationwide. It is important to have this unit, especially in crime investigation operations where (the teams are able) to expedite investigations,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference at Pulapol, Ibrahim said the unit has also been deployed in operations involving VIP events, bomb threats, narcotics and tracking criminals.

“The K9 unit is ready to cooperate with other units such as the Fire and Rescue Department, Prison Department and it also runs demonstrations in schools.” to get closer to the public,” he said at a press conference.

​http://www.thesundaily.my/news/868723

KSWO, Lawton, OK- Wichita Falls, TX: News, Weather, Sports. ABC, 24/7, Telemundo –

ALTUS Okla_ The newest member of the Altus Police Department made her first public appearance Monday.

Her name is Destiny, and soon she will be sniffing drugs off the streets. The City of Altus was able to get her through a grant from Canine Universal out of San Antonio, Texas.

Canine Universal rescues dogs from shelters and bad homes and trains them to be drug-detecting dogs. After the Altus Police Department received an email from the company about getting one of those rescued dogs, Destiny became the newest member of the department.

Officer Jerry Downen said he’s dreamed of being a canine handler ever since he joined the police department four years ago, and he couldn’t be happier the chief chose him.

“They started training her and found out that she was going to do real good, so they saved her life, which is also a really good thing,” Downen said.

The grant they received from Canine Universal paid for Destiny and all her training. Altus Deputy Chief Mike Bell said the cost of the dog and her training is around $11,000.

“We received another grant through a company that’s out in California, that’s for the handler himself,” Bell said. “They’re going to help us subsidize the cost of his training.”

The City of Altus only had to pay to convert one of their patrol cars into a K-9 unit. Destiny received eight weeks of training in San Antonio. The last two weeks, Downen trained there with her. Destiny still has to be certified with the State of Oklahoma, and Bell said that should be done by early December. Then, she’ll be ready to hit the streets. Other than sniffing out drugs during traffic stops, she’ll be going to schools all over Jackson County for drug sweeps.

Downen said the thing he’s most excited to do as soon as she’s certified is, “going out and getting the drugs off the street, making big drug busts.”

Destiny will be joining the three other canines at the police department. For now, she will be a drug dog, but they may train her to track criminals in the future, because she has a smell capability of 250 yards.

The Altus Police Department also received a thermal imaging camera from the Oklahoma Department of Homeland Security. The police department can use it to help them find missing people or to find criminals who are hiding.​

http://www.kswo.com/story/23810996/altus-pd-gets-new-k9-officer

by American Humane Association ON 22ND OCT 2013

We were so honored to be award such a celebrity experience for K9 Lakota. It started early Friday morning as we walked through Atlanta airport to board our flight to LA. We were able share K9 Lakota’s story with multiple people and express just how important it is to get laws passed to protect our Law Enforcement K9s.

Once we arrived in LA we were whisked away by a chauffeur to the Beverly Hills Hilton where all our fellow Hero Dogs awaited everyone’s arrival. That evening we mingled upon the rooftop of the Beverly Hills Hilton Stardust Lounge.

What a beautiful site to overlook Beverly Hills with the Hollywood sign in the background. We got to meet some amazing supporters of the AHA that evening as well as our Law Enforcement supporter State Farm. Lakota received some amazing irreplaceable gift that evening to include a hand painted rock that is a resemblance of him along with Lakota’s Law painted on it and a beautiful handmade collar and leash designed especially for him.

Saturday morning was yet again another celebrity treatment day. Starting with an amazing breakfast and fellowship with our new friends. From there we did a dress rehearsal of the events to come later in the evening and boy did we feel like stars as we saw the red carpet being rolled out. We had hair and make up done by Paul Mitchell school while the dogs all rested for the big evening ahead. Then the time we had all awaited finally had come.

We all left our lavish hotel rooms dressed in our best and mingled with the stars, but we were humbled to see all 8 of our four legged heroes were the stars to the stars. We got to meet Betty White and Ryan O’neil and be interviewed by tv stations. We were introduced to our charity of choice K9s4Cops.org and a lifetime friendship was begun. We are looking forward to helping this cause more and more as time goes on. Then came the red carpet walk K9 Lakota and Travis were escorted down the red carpet with Naomi Judd a small bit of mingling and then it was time to be seated for big event. We dined to a fantastic meal while being entertained by Las Vegas best and then Joey Lawrence started the show off.

Lakota was the first hero Dog up to receive his award and the tears flowed as his tribute video was played and as they walked on stage their was a standing ovation given to them both. The trophy he received will be forever cherished as well as the memories that were made that evening. The night went on and we watched all our new friends videos and receive their trophies and we laughed and cried right beside them.

As the night came to a close the overall Hero Dog was to be chosen all the tables held their leashes and their breathe and the winner was announced. Hero Dog Elle we were so excited and honored to se such an amazing dog break the stereotypes and win such a high award. Way to go ELLE we are so proud of you and your parents.

We left LA with not only wonderful memories but amazing new friends that we will now consider life long friends. thank you to all who voted for K9 Lakota and his fellow Dream Team friends. We are now back in Georgia and we are even more focused on changing laws and protecting law enforcement k9s.

~ Corey Fox aka K9 Lakota’s moM

Held at the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Training Facility at 2316 Atascocita Rd. in Humble; the inaugural event is produced by K9s4COPs, a non-profit that provides trained police dogs to law enforcement agencies around the country.

​http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/lake_houston/news/k-s-cops-harris-county-sheriff-s-office-host-texas/image_499b352a-9d61-5862-adcd-9cdda52748aa.html?mode=nogs

SACRAMENTO – A Sheriff’s Department K9 was shot while pursuing a suspected car thief in a field near Elverta Road Friday morning.

According to Sergeant Lisa Bowman of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Dept., the incident began when a Natomas resident heard some noise near their home and looked outside to see their car had been stolen.

Officers were called and located the vehicle around 4:11 a.m. when a pursuit began.

As the chase progressed along 16th St. about two miles north of Elverta, the driver abandoned the vehicle and fled into a field, said Bowman.

Assisting deputies released K9 officer Drago who pursued the individual into the field. At some point during the chase, the suspect fired eight rounds, hitting Drago in the chest, Bowman said.

The bullet passed through Drago’s chest and exited out his shoulder without striking any vital organs. Drago was taken to a nearby emergency vet where he was treated for the non-life threatening wound.

Additional police officers, deputies, SWAT officers and a helicopter were called in to help search for the suspected shooter.

The individual was located via a heat recognition sensor on the helicopter and authorities approached.  While moving in to apprehend the man, officers noticed the man had suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, said Bowman.

The man was transported to a nearby hospital. Bowman said he was showing signs of life.

News10/KXTV

​http://www.news10.net/news/article/260995/2/K9-officer-shot-standoff-underway-in-Elverta