Changing of the Guard For K3

Transcription

1 WINTER 2015 LONG BEACH K-9 OFFICERS ASSOCIATION Changing of the Guard For K3 By Officer Mike Parcells and K-9s Kyra & Credo Recently after K-9 Kyra captured her last bad guy, I noticed she wasn t herself. She didn t seem to have her normal energy, and I noticed a slight limp as she walked. I took Kyra to the Veterinarian and had some X-rays taken. The Vet told me that it looked like Kyra had a degenerating disc in her neck and lower back which was causing pain. She gave us some pain medicine, and anti-inflammatory medicine. She told me that Kyra was probably not going to be able to return to work. I went home and talked about Kyra s situation with my wife and kids. We made the decision that we were going to let Kyra retire and lounge by the pool. After that decision was made I knew that I wanted to stay on the K-9 detail. So we set out on a search for another dog. I thought to myself it should be pretty easy to find another dog. We made some calls to our local vendors and set up a couple of days to go out and test dogs. Well, it wasn t as easy as we thought, before we knew it we had tested about 20 dogs, but none of them possessed the drives we were looking for. We called Von Liche Kennels, from Indiana and asked them if they had any dogs we could test. Danny from Von Liche, told us that pickin s were slim. He told us with the war, and high demand for dogs right now there was not many dogs available. He said that they were getting a new shipment of dogs in from Europe the 1 st week of June We made our reservations, and before I knew it we were on a plane to Indiana. When we arrived in Indiana the weather was horrible as usaual (you kind of get spoiled with California weather). We drove to the kennels and met with Danny. He gave us a list of about 20 dogs that we were going to look at. We didn t waste any time. We went into the kennels and pulled each of the dogs out one by one and loaded them into a K-9 trailer. The kennels at Von Liche are huge, at capacity they can have up to 500 dogs on hand. We left the kennel facility and drove to an old air force base where we were going to put the dogs through various scenarios. We tested one dog after another, but none seemed to have the balance in drive we were looking for. Finally we came to K-9 Credo. Credo was a small Belgian Malinois only about 55 pounds, but when he came out of the trailer he exuded confidence. We put Credo through the first series of tests, and he scored very well. The kennel assistant told us that Credo had a lot of training and Von Liche used him as their demo dog! It was clear Credo possessed the drive we were looking for. He was a 55 pound Pocket Rocket. Day two and three went equally well. Before you knew it Credo was on a plane heading back to California with us. After some bonding time, we started our 400 hour K-9 training course. Credo flew through the course without any trouble. At the end of the course he was certified in both Patrol and Narcotics. Wish us luck, as we serve the citizens of Long Beach. Inside this issue: President s Message 2 Sergeant s Report 3 Crime Crushers 3 Crime Crushers 5 Membership 6 Merchandise 7

2 Page 2 K9 COLLAR ASSOCIATION OFFICERS Dan Kachel President Shirley Vaughan Vice President Toni Ellis Treasurer Nancy Cotton Financial Secretary Steve Ditmars Recording Secretary Janie Bordelon Correspondence Secretary BOARD OF DIRECTORS Peter Blair Vince Bunting Laura Mathews Michael McGinnis John Vogler Scott Carrier HONORARY BOARD Thomas W. Beighlie, DVM K-9 Officer Advisor Sgt. Marcus Hodge The Long Beach K-9 Officers Association is a non-profit corporation. Federal Tax ID# The K-9 Collar is published quarterly by the Long Beach K-9 Officers Association. Subscriptions are a benefit of membership in the Association. Correspondence and change of address should be mailed to: K-9 Collar P.O. Box Long Beach, CA State of the Association for the Year 2014 As we set our sights on a new year, it is time to look back on our achievements in the past year. Our membership roster remains solid, and our financial position continues to be stronger than prior years. Loyal members, volunteers, dedicated Board members, the K-9 Detail (dogs and handlers), and all those who supported our fundraising efforts throughout 2014 THANK YOU! As a result of your time and generosity, we were able to accomplish the following during 2014: K-9 Programs: In 2014, we paid $20,309 for the purchase of Kai, Credo and Ozzie, one replacement K-9 service dog and two new narcotics detection dogs, and we disbursed $10,842 for needed veterinarian care and medicine for all the K-9 service dogs. We also paid for training related programs in the amount of $978. Cemetery/Cremation/Memorials: In 2014, four retired Police Service Dogs passed away; Ringo, Winston, Zerek and Kilo. For euthanasia expenses we paid $762. Headstone costs will be forethcoming in Retired K-9 s: Officer Mike Parcells retired his K-9 partner Kyra and is currently handling K-9 Credo. Annual Car Show & K-9 Demo: Thanks to your amazing support in May 2014, we grossed $12,769 at this fun event, full of live music, food and drawings. We are especially thankful for the Sultans Car Club who sponsored the event again this year, which showcased beautiful automobiles, vendor exhibits, a race car, and a helicopter transport. The crowd is always delighted to observe the K-9 s and their handlers put on a wonderful and exciting demonstration, with a special appearance by Fox, LBPD s helicopter. Due to a scheduling conflict, we will not be having a car show in 2015, but we look forward to seeing you again on May 7 th, By President Dan Kachel In Memorium: On January 8 th 2014, the Association lost its first civilian Board of Director, Richard Aden. Dick was first elected to the Board on February 6 th, 1983, and attended his final meeting on August 6 th, 2013 due to health reasons. Other Events: The Association, or the K-9 s and their handlers, attended several events this year, such as the car show mentioned above, and other public community walk and talks, where attendees can meet and greet and take photos. At many of these events, we receive donations in exchange for t-shirts, license plate frames, key chains, and trading cards. We also wrote, published, and distributed 4 newsletters in Annual Volunteer Luncheon: None was held in Major Contributors: The Association would like to pay special thanks to William and Delores Redican and The Evelyn M. Bauer Foundation for the significant contributions they made again this year. Thank you very, very much! K-9 Unit Summary: At present, there are 11 handlers and 14 service and detection dogs in the K-9 detail. The association continues to be ready, willing, and able to support the LBPD K-9 unit when economic and budgetary improvements permit the unit to grow. LBK9OA Summary: In 2014, the Long Beach K-9 Officers Association Board of Directors have contributed 544 hours of volunteer service, and made expenditures towards LBPD K-9 programs in excess of $32,276, making this a very successful year. Again, my sincerest thanks to all those who helped our Association grow, allowing us the opportunity to purchase and provide lifetime care for Long Beach Police Service Dogs, and to support the dedicated members of the LBPD K-9 Detail in their efforts to keep their fellow officers and our community safe!

3 WINTER 2015 Page 3 Long Beach Police Service Dog Unit Corporal Greg Manis Jhonny Officer Bill Kift Brayen & Kai Officer Mike Parcells Credo Officer Ernie Wolosewicz Kazik & Kasia Officer Mike Wooldridge Basco Officer Joe Valenzuela Paco Officer Vic Ortiz Trex Officer Jerry Carter Drago & Thor Officer Phil Golia Nala Det. Luis Rodriguez Abby Det. Chris Thue Ozzy We hope everyone had a great holiday season with their family and friends as we start The last few months have been full of challenges and successes for the Police Service Dog Unit (PSDU). First, we d like to thank the LBK9OA for supporting the PSDU as they hosted the first Patrol and Detection K-9 Competition in conjunction with the 2014 Copswest Training and Exposition Conference. Your dedication and support in the planning and execution of the competition was a significant factor in its success and the subsequent requests for the PSDU to host it again in The Patrol and Detection Police Service Dog Units have been very active training, apprehending dangerous felony suspects, locating hidden controlled substances, conducting EOD sweeps, and assisting numerous other local, state, and federal agencies throughout Hi everyone, I hope everybody had a great summer. It's been busy for Basco and I on graveyard. Here are a couple of stories to highlight our summer. It was about a month ago when I was working and heard a radio call of a an armed robbery at the Jack in the Box on Pacific Coast Highway and Orange Ave. The suspect was armed with an AK-47 assult rifle. The suspect fled the area in a red Saturn with the passenger mirror missing. About 2 hours later I had just finished doing a building search up in North Long Beach when a patrol unit came on the radio and said they were pulling over a suspected drunk driver. The officer then said the car was not pulling over. The patrol unit gave the description of the fleeing car and it matched the armed robbery suspect from West Division. I asked the patrol unit if the car was missing the passenger side mirror and they said it was missing. I told them Sergeant s Report By Sergeant Marcus Hodge, Air Support and K-9 Units CRIME CRUSHER By Officer Mike Wooldridge and K-9 Basco the year. The successes mentioned above are articulated in more detail in the individual handler s contributions to the newsletter. The skill level and knowledge that each handler possesses is a reflection of the passion and pride that each handler has for the PSDU. Their professionalism and commitment to excellence is a testament to the caliber of officers assigned to the PSDU. All of the K-9 handlers are to be commended for their outstanding work, tremendous dedication, and they are a credit to the Long Beach Police Department and the City of Long Beach. Please feel free to contact me at any time with questions, concerns or ideas that you may have. My address is marcus.hodge@longbeach.gov. Once again, we d like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to the members of the Long Beach K- 9 Officers Association for their support of the Long Beach Police Department s PSDU. that the suspect was wanted for an armed robbery and had an AK-47 rifle. The chase was on. The pursuit left the city and continued for about 40 minutes into the downtown Los Angles area. Of course Basco and I were there just waiting for our chance to say "Hi" to the suspect. The suspect seeing the police helicopter and lots of police cars chasing him knew there was no way for him to get away, so the suspect pulled over. I got Basco out of the police car and ran up to where officers were yelling at the suspect to get down on the ground. I saw that the suspect was already out of the car and on the ground. I took over commands to the suspect and with a few good barks from Basco he started to comply. After the suspect crawled over to the arrest team, Basco and I made sure there were no other suspects hiding in the car. After a careful search of the car, officers found an AirSoft AK-47, but it looked very real.

4 Page 4 K9 COLLAR CRIME CRUSHER By Ernie Wolosewicz Stealing a vehicle is, by nature, a violent crime. The suspect has to force entry, force the vehicle to start, then usually the suspect has to be forced to surrender. Many of the stolen vehicles we pursue end up in a car crash with the suspect fleeing the accident. The suspect then runs into a neighborhood where he threatens and endangers the lives of innocent residents by using their yards and homes as hiding locations. These suspects have no respect for the lives and property of anyone else and they are willing to forcibly resist arrest. Recently I was asked to assist on a search for a suspect who stole a car, was pursued by police, crashed the car into a school, then jumped into a neighborhood backyard to escape capture. The police officers did an excellent job setting a containment and then called for a K-9 to assist in the search. When I arrived I asked for the assistance of a second K-9 due to the large search area. Officer Jerry Carter responded to the scene. Jerry and I each took one side of the block so we could search back to back. We made many announcements over the vehicle P.A. system pleading for the suspect to surrender and also warning we would use a police dog for the search. I arrived at a house, about three houses into my search, which had a long driveway. The driveway was partially gated with two cars behind it. We spoke with the owner of the house who told us no one was allowed to be in his yard. We made more announcements at the driveway gate for the suspect to surrender but we received no reply. The driveway was narrow and only one officer could fit on either side of the car which made it difficult to provide cover during the search. The use of a K-9 was perfect for this environment. I deployed K-9 Kazik from the gate and he worked his way down the driveway out of sight. Suddenly Kazik darted under the second car in the driveway and apprehended a suspect hiding under the car. Kazik was halfway under the car and was trying to pull the suspect out. The suspect appeared to be trying to pull away and escape. With Kazik making contact we were able to safely approach and take the suspect into custody. If Kazik had not been used for the search there may have been a good chance the suspect would have been missed. My search team told me they checked under the cars but did not see anyone. Kazik also made the approach and custody effort safer. The suspect laying in a prone position could target us and had good cover. This is another example of how the use of police service dogs maximize the efficiency and safety of searches for dangerous suspects. K-9 Credo s First Arrest By Officer Mike Parcells and K-9 Credo My pager goes off and wakes me up from a dead sleep. They need a K-9 to assist in looking for a felony auto theft suspect who had just crashed his car at the end of a vehicle pursuit and fled into a residential neighborhood. This was going to be our first search! We had just certified earlier in the day, and now it was time to put to practical use. As I was driving to the call, I was very nervous. This was not training anymore, I thought to myself. If something goes wrong, somebody could get hurt, or even worse. When we arrived at the command post, I was briefed by the Sergeant on scene, he advised me that we had a tight perimeter around the block and he thought he had the suspect contained. I made a couple K-9 announcements over the P.A. system asking the suspect to surrender himself. After several minutes it was clear that the suspect was not going to give himself up. I met up with my search team and we discussed our search tactics. I told them that this was going to be Credo s first real search. After a couple questions, we set out on our search. We came to our first yard, and I made another K-9 announcement, and after no response I sent K-9 Credo out to search for the suspect. He darted from my side and eagerly searched the entire yard in about 20 seconds. I sent him out again to make sure he covered all the spots where somebody could be hiding. Even though we had over 400 hours of training, it still takes time for us to develop that bond so I can trust him and vise versa. The first yard was clear. We moved to the second yard. Again another K-9 announcement was made, and there was no response. Again I sent Credo out to search. As he darted from my side, he quickly made a turn and headed to the northeast part of the yard. I could tell he had scent. Credo started looking up and barking at a shed. The grass was overgrown, and you could not see that well into the yard. As I got on the radio to see if the helicopter could see anything, Credo circled around the side of the shed, and the barking turned into screaming. Credo had found the suspect and made contact with him. As we moved up to the suspect, I ordered Credo to release the suspect and come back to me. He did so immediately, just like in training. The suspect was handcuffed and taken into custody. A witness positively identified the suspect as the person who had just fled from the car. The suspect had an extensive violent criminal history.

5 WINTER 2015 Page 5 Laura Mathews By Officer Ernie Wolosewicz Laura Mathews is a true Viking. After a successful career as a social worker for the County of Los Angeles, Laura began taking classes at LBCC. She found she had a special talent in the Radio and Television Production classes and soon began to appear on the air at LBCC. This led to her own program on public access TV. Laura loved taking classes with students much younger than she. She realized that many did not have the advantages that she had growing up. Therefore, she endowed a scholarship for Radio/TV majors which continues today. Laura's beloved husband, Gene, was an avid astronomer. When she discovered that she could name an area in the LBCC Planetarium in his memory, she decided to participate. Laura is a volunteer Senior Police Partner with the Long Beach Police Department and is on the Senior Citizen s Advisory Committee. This special lady is also a proud World War II veteran of the US Army (Women's Army Corps). Courtesy, LBCC Alumni Association This article is just one of many you will find when you research Laura Mathews on the web. I picked this snippet because it sums up a lot of work in a short paragraph. We all know you can write a book about her accomplishments but I want to include some highlights in my article. Laura met me at the academy and ran through the list with me, teaching me the proper pronunciation for the commands. She also gave us suggestions on other commands to use. Laura met Kai and began speaking to him in Polish, the dog wagged its tail and probably thought, finally, someone who is not talking crazy. Training from then on was much easier, the hardest part was teaching Billy the Polish commands. Both Billy and Kai learned to talk to each other and turned into a great team. Now we have a new set of commands to add to our list of Dutch, Czech, German, and English. Laura Mathews is incredible! She came to us in our time of need and taught us Polish commands to help us train Kai. Without her help we would have spent much more time retraining the dog commands it already knew. Her dedication to our detail and the association is truly admirable and commendable. The Long Beach K-9 detail is very grateful for her kindness, love, and hard work. Thank you, Laura Matthews, you make us a better K-9 detail! Recently, we had to purchase two new dogs so we ventured to Indiana to test dogs. One of the dogs we picked (K-9 Kai) was a dog from Poland. This was the first time we trained a dog from Poland and we were unsure if the commands we normally used would work. Three days into our training we realized the commands we were using confused the dog. I looked up some polish commands and tried them on Kai. Let me tell you, when Kai heard his native tongue he sprung into life with a new understanding of what we wanted him to do. So the joke now is; how do you confuse a polish dog trainer? Give him a polish dog to train. For a short time I had to handle and train Ky. I had a list of polish commands and used Google translate to help me pronounce the words. We were semi successful but I knew an app was no match for the real thing, so I called Laura Mathews to help us with Ky s training. Photo courtesy Long Beach Press Telegram

6 Page 6 K9 COLLAR Check us out on Facebook and visit our web site for more information regarding our activities. See our souvenir items with LBK9OA logos available for sale. You can also donate via our web site through PayPal using your credit card. Scan with your smart phone to visit us on the web! Name: MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION/RENEWAL FORM Address: MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION/RENEWAL FORM City: State: Zip: Ph:( ) - Date: Individual $35.00/yr Corporate $100.00/yr Please accept my application for membership in the Long Beach K-9 Officers Association. Appropriate payment for membership has been enclosed. This is a RENEWAL application, please expedite. Appropriate payment enclosed. This is a DONATION, Please put to good use for the K-9 Program! Donation amount: $ Method of payment: (circle one) Check Enclosed MasterCard Visa Card Credit Card Account # / / / Card Expiration Date / CVC Code Signature: (For credit card only) Mail Application to: Long Beach K-9 Officers Association P.O. Box Long Beach, CA

7 WINTER 2015 Page 7 Long Beach K-9 Officers Association Merchandise Adult T-Shirt Colors: Black, Red or Gray Sizes Medium, Large, X-Large $17.00 ea XX-Large $20.00 ea Shirts w/ pocket - Sizes: Large, X-Large $18.00 ea Glow in the Dark KEY CHAIN KID S T-SHIRT $1.00 ea $8.00 ea White or Light Blue Sizes 3T, X-Small, Small, Medium COMMUTER MUG $7.00 ea Mug is blue w/gold lettering. Plastic, insulated. Shepherd Bloodhound HATS $12.00 ea Adjustable One size fits most Shepherd Standard Ball cap - White/Royal, Black, Khaki/Navy Summer Mesh Cap - Black, Charcoal/Black, Khaki/Navy LICENSE PLATE FRAME $3.00 ea or 2 for $5.00 CHALLENGE COINS $10.00 NEW All proceeds go to support the Long Beach K-9 Officers Association, a non-profit group. To provide funds to replace dogs killed in the line of duty or retired due to illness or advanced age. To provide continued medical care for retired dogs. (Federal Tax ID # )

8 LB K9 Officers Association P.O. Box Long Beach, CA NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID LONG BEACH, CA PERMIT 423 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED