DURHAM POLICE EXPAND K-9 UNIT TO KEEP UP WITH THE TIMES

DURHAM -- A member of the Durham Police Department sniffs cocaine on a
day-to-day basis.

His nose twitches when he smells it, and a twinge of excitement comes
over him when he knows the white powder is close by.

But when he sits down in front of it, he doesn't inhale it. He looks
up and waits.

Typical for a police dog.

The Durham Police Department's K-9 unit nearly doubled in size over
the past year. Its nine "dual-purpose" dogs search for drugs and track
anything from people to cell phones.

"We're sniffing out the bad guys, so to speak," said Sgt. Mike Baker,
K-9 unit supervisor. "We've become dog-dependent. It's another tool on
our belt."

Durham police have been working with dogs since the 1970s. Two years
ago Baker asked Chief Steve Chalmers for more dogs to help with a
growing number of calls, including from the department's gang and
other specialized units.

Officers were transferred from other positions into the K-9 unit, and
the change took effect during the 2003-04 fiscal year. The four new
dogs and their equipment, which included kennels and leashes, cost
nearly $26,000, Baker said.

The department's nine dogs went on 726 of the 2,901 calls the K-9 unit
received last year, Baker said. K-9 officers also are called to help
with regular patrols, where dogs are not necessarily needed.

"My guys felt bad when they were off work and someone needed a dog,"
Baker said. Now with four dogs working every day, two per shift, "it's
a relief factor," he said. "There's nothing like your pager going off
at 3 in the morning."

K-911

Russ Hess, executive director of the nonprofit U.S. Police Canine
Association, said there's no standard for how many dogs a police
department should have, though he thinks numbers have increased
nationwide since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The Chapel Hill Police Department has three dogs now, after one was
recently retired. Raleigh, with a population nearly 1.5 times
Durham's, currently uses 11 dogs. A 12th was killed by a hit-and-run
driver while exercising last week.

Dogs became popular police tools in the 1960s, Hess said, but for the
wrong reasons -- inflicting fear and controlling and attacking people
during civil rights demonstrations.

In the 1990s, the emphasis changed as police learned what dogs are
capable of, specifically tracking humans and drugs by scent.

"[Dogs] allow police departments to utilize resources better and give
an officer the ability to serve and do [his or her] job better than
anyone," Hess said.

Pot bust

Recently, Durham Police Officer Charles Sole and his dog Bronco seized
900 pounds of marijuana from a van after the Federal Bureau of
Investigation asked Durham police for help.

"It was huge," said Sole, who has worked narcotics for five
years.

Last week, when The Herald-Sun observed Sole and Bronco, Sole
responded to a call about a suspected drug-dealer being chased through
the woods near Lee and Drew streets. Officers had caught the suspect
but wanted the dog to look for any drugs or money he might have
dropped during the chase.

Bronco maneuvered through trees, leaves and brush.

After nearly 30 minutes, he found a cell phone and sat down near it to
alert Sole.

"If there were drugs out there, he would have found it," Sole said.
"They always teach you to trust your dog, and I'm confident there
weren't any other articles out there."

Depending on their training, dogs will either retrieve an article or
alert their handler by lying down or sitting near it.

A dog will search for a suspect by following his or her scent. If a
suspect runs from a car, for example, the dog can pick up his or her
odor from the car and track the suspect.

But Sole said his favorite part of the job, other than finding
suspects, is using the dog in the classroom.

Several times a month, he'll take Bronco to classrooms and teach
children to stay away from guns and to tell an adult if they find one.

Sole shows them how Bronco, a dog that alerts his handler when he
finds something, doesn't pick up the gun.

"Kids remember the dog going out and doing that," Sole said. "The dog
reinforces it."

Dutch dogs

Durham police mainly use Belgian Malinois dogs from Holland. The breed
has fewer hip problems than German shepherds. The K-9 unit also uses
Dutch shepherds.

Baker said police import the dogs with some pre-training from the
Royal Dutch Police. After the dogs arrive, police put them through a
five-week training session with their Durham handlers.

"Training the dog is the easy part," said Officer Kristy Roberts, who
began working with Bang (pronounced "bong") in March. "Training the
handler is tough. As he learns your quirks, you learn his."

In fact, with Dutch dogs, handlers are required to learn Dutch
commands: Laut for speak. Blif for stay.

"We as Southerners probably ruined Dutch as we know it," Baker
said.

But the training process continues throughout their service with daily
exercises.

Sole will hide articles or drug-scented stickers to keep Bronco on his
paws. He spends about two hours a day training, rewarding the dog with
a tennis ball.

"It's amazing what they'll do for a toy," said Baker. "If we used
treats, as much as they work, they'd all be overweight."

'Team effort'

It takes about two years for a handler and a dog to reach autopilot,
Sole said.

"If you have a bad attitude or you're in a bad mood that day, it goes
right down the leash," he said. "They know how to perform the task,
but it's a team effort."

At the day's end, each dog goes home with his or her handler.

Roberts said her pet dogs get along with Bang, although the police dog
stays in a city-provided kennel outside her house.

"You have to establish yourself as alpha with these dogs," said Baker.
"Don't sleep with them, but you can let them play with other dogs."

Durham retires its police dogs after five to six years and their
handlers have the option of keeping them.

Sole said he feels safer with a dog because people "are more
intimidated by the dogs than by us." But K-9 work can be dangerous.
"We're 10 times more likely to be in a violent situation because we
are the ones chasing the bad guy or doing building searches," he said.

But the dogs also are putting themselves in danger.

Officer Moses Irving's dog, Bern, was shot at and stabbed, choked,
beaten and kicked several feet off the ground after joining the K-9
unit in 1990 and before retiring in 1998.

All for the chance to chew on a neon-yellow tennis ball.

The K-9 Unit at a Glance

- -- The Durham Police Department has nine dogs.

- -- Each dog usually works 10.5 hours per day.

- -- Dogs retire after five to six years.

- -- The department provides $28 worth of food per month per
dog.

- -- Built-in car kennels cost about $1,500.

- -- About 38 percent of K-9 unit calls in June were for tracking:
looking for suspects, missing persons or evidence.

- -- About 26 percent of K-9 unit calls in June were for narcotics
searches.

- -- Police do eight to 12 dog demonstrations per month for schools and
community groups.

- -- Police have dogs of both sexes, and the dogs are not normally
spayed or neutered.

Source: Durham Police Department