Featured K-9 Unit: Bay County Sheriff's Office / Scent Evidence K9

January/February 2020 - ISSUE 78

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BAY COUNTY S H E R I F F ’S O F F I C E 5 2 | policek9magazine.com

USES SCENT DISCRIMINATE K-9 TRAILING TO REBUILD A SAFER COMMUNITY

BCSO Group Pictured L to R: Dep. Jeff Duggins, Dep. David Jones, K-9 Loki, Sheriff Tommy Ford, Dep. Chris Jones, Cpl. Jason Ruthven, Sgt. Nick Hall, Dep. Corey Puckett, K-9 Justice and Scent Evidence K9 CEO, Paul Coley Taken in front of the Bay County Sheriff ’s Office K-9 Memorial

DEPUTIES OF THE BAY COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE in Panama City, Florida are reminded every day of the destruction caused by Hurricane Michael a year before.

The landscape was permanently scarred when the Category 5 storm made landfall on Oct. 10, 2018. The BCSO faced many unique challenges presented by the historic disaster including over 1000 people who were still reported missing a week after the storm hit.

Fast forward a year later and the evidence of Michael is still seen in the tens of thousands of knocked down and sheared off trees, but the Bay County Sheriff’s Office is still standing, rebuilding, and moving forward to protect and serve their community.

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ONE OF THE WAYS THAT BCSO SHERIFF TOMMY FORD is working to improve safety in

the Panama City area is by strengthening and expanding the services of his K-9 Unit.

In September 2019, three Florida counties were selected to participate in the Bringing the Lost Home Project bill. The bill, presented by Scent Evidence K9 and The Alzheimer's Project, was signed by Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, in late June 2019 and sponsored by Florida House Representative, Scott Plakon. Bay, Seminole, and Sumter County Sheriff's Offices were selected as recipients of the Scent Discriminate K9 Training and Missing Person Response Protocol training provided by Scent Evidence K9 as well as Scent Kit® programs for each community that distributes 3000 kits to people with Alzheimer's Disease and autism who are at risk of wandering.

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HUMAN SCENT DISCRIMINATE K9 TRAILING THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB As training began for the Bay County Sheriff's Office K-9 Unit, Scent Evidence K9 CEO, Paul Coley, received a call 5 minutes into his presentation about the advantages of human scent discriminate trailing and how it differs from traditional K-9 tracking methods. The call came from Capt. Lonnie Bowman from the Liberty County Georgia Sheriff's Office about a case he was working on with his bloodhound, Charlie. Coley, who had trained both the handler and the dog, took the call and put Capt. Bowman on speaker for 6 BCSO K-9 handlers to hear. Bowman described how a robbery suspect had abandoned a stolen motorcycle after a high-speed pursuit and was hiding in a

Georgia swamp. Capt. Bowman gave K-9 Charlie the suspect's scent and the bloodhound dove off a landing into the swamp and located the suspect partially submerged in the water. Coley stated, "It was the perfect way to demonstrate how the system can work in locating a specific individual and it came from an officer in the field doing his job."

Human Scent Discriminate Trailing uses a person's unique odor to locate them and to a properly trained scent discriminate K9, it's as identifiable as a fingerprint.

Traditional tracking uses footfall and ground disturbance to track a person.

"Our Scent Discriminate trailing methods give a K-9 team several advantages such as the ability to search in a variety of environmental and surface conditions over longer spans of time," said Coley.

HUMAN SCENT DISCRIMINATE TRAILING uses a person's unique odor to locate them

and to a properly trained scent discriminate K9, it's as identifiable as a fingerprint.

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As the first of the 3 Florida counties to receive training, Bay County presented a few new challenges. The K-9 Unit consisted of 2 Bloodhounds and 5 patrol dogs (Malinois and Shepherds). "Bloodhounds are the Cadillac of Scent Discriminate dogs and are uniquely built for trailing.

While I have trained many other breeds in Europe with great results, I was excited to see how the patrol dogs would adapt to the new processes," stated Coley.

The patrol dogs and their handlers were successfully completing scent discriminate trailing exercises and locating their targets after only one day and the usefulness of the training was quickly apparent to the BCSO K-9 Unit. The training led the K-9 teams through a vigorous week-long program of trailing exercises and scent collection techniques, including the use of The SEKR®, a new scent evidence collection vacuum developed

by Scent Evidence K9. "I was impressed by the enthusiasm and energy of the BCSO handlers and the drive of their dogs. Their eagerness to learn these new search response techniques and systems will help save the lives of those in their community with Alzheimer's Disease or Autism who at risk of wandering and going missing," said Coley.

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NEW TRAILING PROCESS YIELDS POSITIVE RESULTS Bay County Sheriff's Office teams are already seeing results with 2 confirmed finds within hours of participating in the training. Here is a letter Scent Evidence K9 received from the BCSO. Following the final day of training, Cpl. Ruthven and K-9 Chase deployed on their first shift since the scent discriminate training and used the newly acquired tactics to locate a suspect who had fled after a vehicle pursuit. K-9 Chase was deployed, and Cpl. Ruthven utilized a scent kit and began their search.

During the track, they located a pair of shorts worn by the suspect and a short time later K-9 Chase indicated that there was a scent pool coming from underneath a shed in the back of a residence. The suspect was found hiding underneath the shed and surrendered without incident.

Additionally, Sgt. Hall and K-9 Lycan deployed on their first shift since the training and

performed an evidence track after a suspect was located upon his arrival. Using the newly acquired techniques, Sgt Hall swabbed the bicycle the suspect dropped and a shoe he ran out of. They deployed and were able to locate 2 pieces of evidence that were discarded by the suspect over the course of the 400-yard trail.

These are just 2 examples of the exemplary work the dogs have done since receiving this excellent training and proven technique.

We thank you very much for the opportunity and the knowledge gained.

Sincerely, The BCSO K-9 Team

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FLORIDA HAS THE NATION'S SECOND - LARGEST POPULATION OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. Of the 540,000 diagnosed, studies show that

60% or 3 in 5 will wander and go missing.

BCSO SCENT KIT PROGRAM AND MISSING PERSON RESPONSE PROTOCOL TRAINING Scent Discriminate K9 Training is just one of three integral components contained in the Bringing the Lost Home Project for the selected Florida Counties. The Sheriff's Offices are implementing Scent Preservation Kit® programs and will receive Missing Person Response Protocol Training.

Seminole, Sumter, and Bay Counties will each distribute 1000 Scent Kits® to people with Alzheimer's Disease, dementia, and autism who are at high risk of wandering and going missing. Florida has the nation's second-largest population of people living with Alzheimer's Disease.

Of the 540,000 diagnosed, studies show that 60% or 3 in 5 will wander and go missing. The Scent Preservation Kit® allows individuals, families and caregivers to pre-collect the scent of the person and store it before they go missing. Having a Scent Kit® prepared in advance gives responders the ability to begin searching immediately with an uncontaminated scent article.

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The kits increase the location success of K-9 teams while decreasing the time it takes to find them and bring them home safe. The kits also allow for quick deployment by law enforcement when every minute counts. For more information on the Bay County Scent Kit program, visit bayso.org.

You can also contact the Alzheimer's Project at alzheimersproject.org for more information.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office will also receive Missing Person Response Protocol training developed by Coley and endorsed by The Florida State University Emergency Management and Homeland Security Department. The protocol is designed to provide communities with a standardized approach to responding to missing person cases that will increase and enhance law enforcement search capabilities. "We are proud to be partnering with Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford, and the high performing BCSO K-9 Unit with the Bringing the Lost Home Project. We fully support their commitment to creating safer communities for the people they protect and serve," said Coley.