Featured K-9 Unit: Shirley Police Department

March/April 2020 - ISSUE 79

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Featured K-9 Unit Shirley Police Department

Tracking Considerations Beyond the Track

Scent Detection

Increasing Performance in Detection Training

SHIRLEY POLICE DEPARTMENT: FEATURED K-9 UNIT: SHIRLEY POLICE DEPARTMENT | K-9 UNIT

A SMALL TOWN K-9 UNIT LEADS THE WAY

By: Zachary Fuhrman For most small town police departments, the thought of having one K-9 unit, let alone an entire program, is a dream that takes copious amounts of money, time and effort to come to fruition. For the Town of Shirley, Indiana, that dream has not only come true but has assisted local, state and federal law enforcement agencies for the past decade.

Shirley Is located 30 minutes east of Indianapolis, the capital city of the Hoosier State, just a 4 4 | policek9magazine.com

couple minutes North as you exit Interstate 70.

Shirley sits on the border of both Hancock and Henry Counties, allowing the Shirley Police Department (SPD) to service both counties in their time of need.

With a population of approximately 1,000 residents, the Town of Shirley employs two full-time police officers and has 14 reserve officers who are duly sworn and dedicate their time to keeping the town and counties safe and secure.

MISSION STATEMENT –

To ensure a safer community by reducing crime, establishing relationships with the residents of the town and the county, enforcing the law while preserving the peace, and to adorn the quality of life for the residents of Shirley, Indiana and the surrounding communities.

1971 year established 2 full-time officers 14 reserve officers

9 civilian staff personnel 1,000 residents 8 mi2 area covered

One very unique aspect of the SPD is that it not only has two active K-9 units but also has had a total of seven since its inception in 2010. The K-9 unit began 10 years ago and to date has been completely self-funded. To put that in a financial perspective, approximately $150,000 has been saved in the last decade, relieving the taxpayers of that responsibility. Fundraisers and donations have assisted with covering the cost of the purchase, training, housing and needs of the dogs and handlers.

The first K-9, Charon (pronounced Haron), was a European Shepherd/Wolf mix and came from Czechoslovakia. SPD Chief Brian Pryor purchased Charon in San Antonio, Texas when he was nine months old. Charon was active from 2010 until his final EOW on May 7, 2017 after a battle with cancer of the blood vessels.

Charon boasted a very successful career in law enforcement. He had approximately 174 civil apprehensions and one street bite apprehension. During one of his civil apprehensions, he had a two-hour, 3.9mile track through mud, snow, grass, water and over fences. During his work with the Indiana State Police Meth Suppression Unit, he worked approximately 40 methamphetamine labs. Charon completed his career on top with his last bust at a vehicle crash. After hitting on and finding a small amount of marijuana, an additional $101,520 was located in vacuumed sealed bags in the rear of the vehicle.

After Charon’s death, Chief Pryor had a personal K-9, Justice, that he took to Texas along with K-9 Shadow, to be trained for the Shirley Police Department. They would first be trained individually and then together as a team. Justice was trained for narcotics, tracking and apprehension but during the training, she blocked the narcotics and became fixed on doing the tracking and apprehension; thus, Chief Pryor and Justice were certified as a team in tracking and apprehension only.

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FEATURED K-9 UNIT: SHIRLEY POLICE DEPARTMENT | K-9 UNIT

Shadow and handler Tim York were certified as a single purpose (narcotics) team.

York and Shadow worked together for about a year. They were active as School Resource Officers (SRO) and had multiple drug busts from both lockers and vehicles on school grounds. Shadow began having seizures and his final EOW was in August of 2018.

K-9 Max, a dual-purpose K-9, was then purchased for York. They worked together until York resigned and moved on with his career.

Shortly after training Justice and Shadow, Ray Nunez of Combat K-9 reached out to Chief Pryor about a two-yearold Belgian Malinois. The dog wasn’t trained on anything.

Chief Pryor planned on being at Combat K-9 for only two

weeks and decided with Nunez to attempt to train the dog.

Once Chief Pryor arrived, he named the new dog Havoc.

Nunez and Chief Pryor were able to fully imprint Havoc on all four major narcotics (marijuana, heroin, cocaine and

meth) in just under three days.

By the end of the two-week period, Havoc was fully trained on tracking, apprehension, building searches, area searches and was also imprinted on firearms. He and Chief Pryor were certified as a team.

“Ray stated that this was the fastest that he had ever seen a K-9 be trained,” Chief Pryor said. “Havoc is a very smart dog. He picks things up extremely fast and pays very close attention to everything.” Havoc’s first bust was a subject that wanted suicide-by-cop. “The subject was in a bean field with a gun and a State Police Officer was on the roadway at gunpoint with the subject,” Chief Pryor explained. “Havoc and I went down a tree line where the suspect did not see us. Once the announcement was made, the suspect looked our way, saw Havoc, threw down his firearm and yelled, ‘Don’t let the dog bite me!’” Havoc has had several drug busts from vehicles since he has gone into service with the SPD and is still active to date.

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Detective Terry Longworth purchased another dog, Teibo, from a company in Indiana. Teibo was sold as a dual-purpose K-9 but during a re-certification at Combat K-9, it was discovered that he was not a dual-purpose K-9. It was found that he was not only a single purpose dog but also that he was trained just as a narcotics show dog and not a working dog. He was recertified in narcotics only and has been an asset to the SPD ever since, making several vehicular drug busts. Teibo was assigned to Lieutenant Josh Miller and they will be attending Combat K-9 this year.

Detective Longworth purchased another dog from Combat K-9 for the department, K-9 Kilo. He was a full dual-purpose dog but shortly after purchasing him, Detective Longworth was injured and unable to handle a K-9. As a result, Kilo was sold through Combat K-9.

In all, the Shirley Police Department has had a total of seven dogs and they currently have two active teams. The SPD K-9 program has not only assisted in creating a safer community but also make public appearances to inform citizens on how they work and to create a positive atmosphere.

The SPD Officers and K-9s are driven to follow their Mission Statement every day. The mission of the Shirley Police Department is to ensure a safer community by reducing crime, establishing relationships with the residents of the town and the county, enforcing the law while preserving the peace and to adorn the quality of life for the residents of Shirley, Indiana and the surrounding communities.

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