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Councilman Greg Stanton's
Arcadia News
June 2004
Canine Unit a vital tool in public safety
Our Police officers use many tools to aid them in the fight against crime. Occasionally these tools must be updated and improved to ensure that our officers who risk their lives to protect us are provided the best tools available. One of the best tools police officers have is man’s best friend, canines. Over the past 18 months, we have worked to overhaul the K-9 Unit by focusing its efforts on improved dog selection and training techniques. As a member of the City Council Public Safety Subcommittee, I’m confident that the improvements in the K-9 Unit will serve as a worthwhile investment for our public safety needs.
We conducted a thorough review of the K-9 Unit’s management, training and deployment strategies. As a result of our review, canine training techniques were revamped to emphasize positive reinforcement. The dogs were taught new capabilities or profiles including human tracking, narcotics detection and evidence recovery. The added profiles allow for greater use of the dogs in more situations than in the past.
The overhaul of the unit has reduced liability, enhanced officer safety and provided a higher level of service for patrol officers, detectives and the people of Phoenix .
During the last year, the canines have successfully located several robbery, burglary and stolen vehicle suspects, drug dealers and other criminals might have eluded capture in the past. Although the unit dedicated a great deal of time to training in 2003, the officers also responded to 2,650 radio calls, conducted 961 searches for suspects, located 160 suspects who were hiding from officers, seized over $300,000 in marijuana and narcotics, seized $50,000 in cash from drug dealers and seized nine vehicles from drug dealers. The final phase of the unit’s redevelopment is scheduled to be completed in July.
Although we often associate advances in technology with computers or digital devices, the Police Department’s use of technology to improve training in our K-9 Unit will serve as a great improvement in our efforts to fight crime.
If you have any questions about this or any other issue, as always, please feel free to call my office at 602-262-7491, greg.stanton@phoenix.gov or visit my Web site at
www.phoenix.gov/DISTRICT6.
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