This article is about the role of police dog handler and what they do as part of their daily activities.
Each day, the role of working dogs throughout the world becomes more
demanding. These dogs are used for tracing criminal links and have been
useful in solving various criminal cases. These dogs are usually
accompanied by a police officer to the scene of the crime.
These dogs are trained specifically to assist police officers in
the criminal case. These dogs are often referred by the term K9, which
sounds like the canine, a word that is generally referred to the dog
and its relatives.
Due to their uniqueness, these dogs are taken special care and are
kept in specifically built dog houses. In many jurisdictions the
intentional injury or killing of a police service dog is a serious
crime and the perpetrator is subjected to harsh penalties. In some
cases the killing or injury of police service dogs are considered to be
equal to the killing or injuring a police officer.
Furthermore, a police service dog killed while on duty is
traditionally given a full police funeral or burial, similar to that
for a police officer. Some of the functions performed by police service
dogs are as follows:
1. Police order enforcement dog
In this case these dogs are used to enforce public order by chasing and holding suspects, or detaining suspects.
2. Tracking
It is referred to locating of suspects or finding missing persons and objects.
3. Detecting illicit objects
Thee dogs are used to detect illicit substances such as drugs or explosives which may be carried by a person.
4. Cadaver dogs
These dogs are trained in detecting the odor of decomposing bodies.
Dog's noses are so sensitive that they are even capable of detecting
bodies that are under water.
Police service dogs need to be trained professionally and proper
care must be taken so that they can be useful during police
investigation. Equal care should also be taken in training police
service dog handlers.
It should be taken into consideration that the functioning of dogs
is different to that of human behavior. Therefore, it becomes necessary
that the dog handler is professionally trained in understanding all the
behaviors of the police service dogs in various circumstances.
A Dog handler is a special police officer who is in charge of the
training and handling of well trained police dogs. The level of
training and certification for police dog handlers and police dogs
should constantly evolve several challenges and has become more
progressive as well. There are various institutes which impart training
of police dog handlers.
A person in this institute has to go through both theoretical as
well as practical training. Seminars, trainings and certifications are
being offered through the American Police Dog Tactics which is usually
open to any law enforcement, military as well as search and rescue
units. Apart from handling the police dogs the living standard of these
police dog handlers is even taken into consideration.
Becoming a police service dog handler does not require any formal
education, but an apprenticeship under an established handler and an
adherence to a code the ethics are important something's required to
become a professional handler.
