Police Department | K9 Unit
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During the tenure of the program the Department has utilized German Shepherds, Dutch Shepherds, Czech Shepherds, Doberman Pinschers, Labrador Retrievers and Belgian Malinois for training as K-9 partners.
The dogs are selected and trained by the Kansas Highway Patrol Police Service Dog Unit.
Training
The dogs and the Officer Handlers undergo an intensive 10-week training program to become proficient at their work. They are taught obedience, patrol skills, along with narcotic and explosive detection skills. After their 10-week basic school the dogs are certified under the International Police Dog Standard.
K-9 teams perform many tasks to assist police officers in their jobs:
K9s are trained for tracking - scent detection of human scent and following the footsteps of an individual who has left an area on foot.- K-9s teams search for lost persons.
- Building searches require the K9's to locate individuals who may be hiding inside a structure.
- K9s assist in the capture of dangerous criminals by trailing their path of travel.
- K9s conduct area searches to detect fleeing hiding criminals.
- K9s assist in evidence recovery by detecting a human scent which has been transferred to items recently handled by humans. Items can be located in any indoors or outdoors setting.
- K9s perform article searches after a crime has occurred such as searching for shell casings after a shooting in areas sometimes as large as a football field.
- K9s back up their Officer partners on all types of patrol calls.
- K9s assist with narcotics detection. The narcotics detection trained K-9s are often called to search vehicles and houses when requested by an officer and backed by probable cause for the presence of illegal drugs or contraband. The drug dogs are trained to detect marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin odors.
- K9s protect their assigned handler.
- K9s are trained to search and detect explosive devices, including bombs.
