Police Dogs To Help Sniff Out Crime

Rick Yager, left, Rogers police officer, and his police dog partner Dillon stand in front of their patrol SUV with fellow officers Roy Brooks and his police dog Kragen at the Rogers Police Department. The department recently got the two police dogs to join their staff. The department’s last police dog was retired about a year before these arrived. Kragen, one of the new dogs, found a loaded pistol, meth and pot during a traffic stop June 21, his first day on the job.
Rick Yager, left, Rogers police officer, and his police dog partner Dillon stand in front of their patrol SUV with fellow officers Roy Brooks and his police dog Kragen at the Rogers Police Department. The department recently got the two police dogs to join their staff. The department’s last police dog was retired about a year before these arrived. Kragen, one of the new dogs, found a loaded pistol, meth and pot during a traffic stop June 21, his first day on the job.

ROGERS — Two Belgian Malinois joined the Rogers police force last month, filling positions empty for more than a year.

Methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and a small pistol were hidden inside the first car police dog Kragen searched, said Roy Brooks, his handler. The June 21 search evolved from a routine traffic stop. Kragen circled the car twice before he sat down and pointed at the passenger door, Brooks said. Officers searched the car and arrested its two occupants.

Fast Facts

Police Dogs

Police dogs Urgo and Bo have retired from the Rogers Police Department. Kragen and Dillon joined the force in June.

Kragen

• Was trained in French ring sport in which a dog competes in agility, obedience and bite exercises before working as a police dog.

• Takes commands in a mixture of English, German and French.

• Born in Mexico.

• Is 2 1/2 years old.

• Alerts police to what he has found by sitting and pointing.

Dillon

• Is young for a police dog at 15 months. Most dogs don't start training until 18 months, said Rick Yager, his handler.

• Takes commands in a mixture of Czech, Dutch and German.

• Alerts police to what he has found by sitting and pointing his nose as close as he can.

Source: Staff Report

The dogs will be instrumental in finding drugs officers cannot see, Brooks said.

Having police dogs makes it easier for the officers to do their jobs, said Capt. Hayes Minor, head of criminal investigation and uniform operations divisions at the Rogers Police Department.

Officers have probable cause to search a vehicle for drugs if, during a traffic stop, a police dog alerts by pointing his nose at the vehicle and sits down.

“If someone has a pound of an illegal substance in the center console it is not going to be readily visible to an officer, where a K-9 is going to alert on that,” Minor said

The department has had dogs since the program was revived in 1995, Minor said. The department’s last two dogs retired within a year of each other, the last retiring in March 2012. Last year, Rogers had support from the Bentonville Police Department and the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, Minor said, but the response time was slower without a Rogers police dog.

Money was set aside in the 2013 budget to purchase the two dogs and outfit two vehicles for them. A grant application for the department to purchase a third police dog was mailed Tuesday, Minor said. The dogs and two weeks of officer training cost $8,000; $5,000 is set aside annually to care for the animals.

There are about 300 police dogs in Arkansas, said Tony Smith, owner and certified instructor with Little Rock K-9 Academy.

Smith trains three breeds: German shepherds, Belgian Malinois and Labrador retrievers. Rogers police purchased Dillon and Kragen from him.

Dogs trained for police work must be social enough to befriend their officer, but also have enough tenacity to defend them, Smith said. He trains dogs to search for narcotics, track suspects and apprehend criminals. If a building has been burglarized, an officer can send in a dog to search for suspects.

Belgian Malinois make good police dogs because they are smaller than German shepherds. Malinois usually weigh 50 to 65 pounds where German shepherds are 65 to 85 pounds. A single pound on a dog is the equivalent of 4 pounds on a person, Smith said. The lighter Malinois can work a little bit longer and run a little big faster because they are smaller and more agile.

Police dogs also are usually male because they have a stronger fight drive, Smith said. If a police dog attacks it will hold until it gets the command to release, but some female dogs tend to hold a suspect’s arm like it was a puppy. Dogs are screened for their abilities before training.

Their sense of smell makes dogs effective in police work.

“All dogs’ noses are created equal,” Smith said.

Not all dogs want to use their sniffing skills. Bloodhounds have the same abilities to track as German shepherds, Smith said, but bloodhounds are bred to keep their nose to the ground.

Small amounts of drugs are easy to conceal from sight, Smith said. Dogs don’t need to see the drugs to find them.

You could show his dog a pound of marijuana and he would not be interested, but if someone walked out of the car after touching the package, the dog will alert on the scent, said Rick Yager, Dillon’s handler.

Dillon has alerted officers three times since he started work. On one occasion, while Dillon was circling the car during a traffic stop, its occupant stood in front of Yager’s police vehicle and was caught on tape swallowing narcotics to avoid detection.

Sometimes he will pull up and a car’s occupants will give the officer permission to search just because the dog is there, Brooks said.

Brooks arrived one night at a fight that was getting out of hand, but when he said he was going to release Kragen, everyone froze.

“It’s a different feeling knowing you’ve got instant backup,” Yager said.

Both dogs will do public appearances, make school visits and be community emissaries, Minor said.

“We want these dogs to be seen by the public,” Minor said.

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