Arkansas police dogs must now meet law enforcement standards just like their human counterparts, according to new legislation.
After signing HB 1237, now Act 168, into law Tuesday, Gov. Mike Beebe held a ceremony in the Governor’s Conference Room Wednesday with law enforcement officials to commemorate the new law that will require working police dogs to meet minimum training and certification standards that the Arkansas Commission on Law Enforcement Standards and Training will create and enforce.
Brian Marshall, deputy director of the state’s office of law enforcement standards, said that, until now, police dogs did not need state certification to perform searches or other police-dog functions.
Dogs, and their handlers, had to go out of state to get annual certification from national groups such as the National Narcotic Detector Dog Association and the North American Police Work Dog Association.
“The analogy I use ... take a radar operator: They take a class and buy the equipment and use it but forget to [get] certification, then you’re setting yourself up and your city up for a great deal of liability,” Marshall said. “Now we’re putting the state’s name behind the [officer and their dog].”
Since the state hasn’t been in the business of certifying law enforcement dogs, he said he couldn’t say how many police dogs are active in the state.
That particular unknown is cause enough for concern, said Bernie Mosley,the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy’s dog coordinator.
“We don’t know how many dogs are out there,” Mosley said. “We don’t know how many are working or where they are trained and, to me, that’s kind of scary.”
Mosley said he expects Arkansas law enforcement agencies to still seek national certification, but that the new legislation will ensure a base line in training and performance requirements for all of the state’s handlers.
In short, if there is a drug case made by a drug-sniffing dog, a state prosecution will be more successful if the dog and its handler both have certification from the state, he said.
Tony Smith, owner of the Little Rock Canine Academy, said the new legislation will save departments money and provide training opportunities run by state officials in Arkansas.
Smith, who has sold or trained dogs in 39 states and four countries, first approached Beebe in 2010 about establishing certification for Arkansas police dogs, and has worked with the state’s law enforcement standards commission and a committee of area law enforcement figures to set the guidelines and standards for narcotics and patrol dogs.
He estimates there are anywhere from 150 to 200 active police dogs in the state, and said annual national certification fees can range anywhere from $50 to $100, while state certification is free. As a result of the low cost, he estimates that Arkansas law enforcement agencies statewide could see a combined annual savings of $17,000 to $20,000.
The new legislation will go into effect in July and police dog handlers will have 18 months to comply with the commission’s new standards, Smith said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/28/2013