VERO BEACH — For the first time since recession-fueled budget cuts were imposed, the Vero Beach Police Department will by the end of the month have two highly trained four-legged officers on duty on the night shift.
German Shepherd K-9 Officers Doc and Portos came to Vero all the way from the Netherlands as excitable and enthusiastic one-year-olds, and have been honing their skills with handlers and trainers in recent months in a collaborative effort with the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s Office Trainer Dep. Brian Reimsnyder, who began working with Doc before Portos’ arrival and integration into the program, described both young dogs as “totally green when we get them.”
They come with the right instincts for the job and a willingness to work, but in the 480 hours of training required before testing for certification, it’s up to the trainers to instill the respect for commands and to the handlers to form a bond of trust – a bond which may save the life of a police officer someday.
K-9 dogs cost $7,500 to $10,000 to purchase, and their maintenance budget includes money for food, training and veterinary care. Some of that expense is funded via donations from the community into special K-9 trust funds each agency has set up to process tax-deductible contributions.
A trusty K-9 officer can prove to be worth his weight in gold to a law enforcement agency. Dogs can venture into places and situations where they’re more adept at the job than their human counterparts.
“They have a nose that I don’t have. I can’t put my nose on the ground and track human odor,” said Ofc. Shane Joerger, who has been with the Vero Beach Police Department about a year and a half. “The K-9 handler job was something I wanted to get into because I wanted to see what they could do.”
Sgt. Dave Puscher, who serves as K-9 training coordinator and supervisor for the Vero Beach Police Department, said Vero had two K-9 teams up until 2008, but that as the dogs were relieved of duty for health reasons or retired, they were not replaced.
“You have to consider these dogs like you would professional athletes because the work they do takes a lot of wear and tear on them,” Puscher said.
Then earlier this year, the Vero Beach Police Foundation received a donation from a local dermatologist, Dr. Tim Iaonnides, to purchase the first dog, aptly named “Doc” after his benefactor.
Another dog was purchased, but returned due to a lack of compatibility with his handler. Portos was sent in his stead.
“Recently we had just the one K-9 team that would usually work evenings, and we would spread that one team across all the evening shifts,” Police Chief David Currey said. “To have the two teams – one assigned to each evening shift – allows us to do that.”
Currey said having the two K-9 handler slots will also open up opportunities for people like Joerger, whose K-9 partner is Doc, and Ofc. Greg Plumb, who is partnered with Portos, to learn and perform a different aspect of police work.
On Wednesdays, both teams will be on duty and will participate in training opportunities with K-9 teams from the Sheriff’s Office, the Sebastian Police Department and occasionally with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Service enforcement officers.
Reimsnyder said the K-9s go out on location – whether it be in the woods or a crowded apartment complex or crossing a body of water – both to learn the terrain and to amass a repertoire of experiences that will not seem foreign to the dogs and handlers should they be faced with a real-life incident.
Part of the training is teaching the K-9s not to get distracted while on the job, to ignore extraneous people and voices, gunshots, and even food and the smell of food.
That’s one reason why the dogs are trained to seek praise and a special toy as their reward – not tasty treats.
The dogs are trained to use their natural sniffing talent to track suspects, to locate a missing person and also to sniff out drugs. Both of Vero’s new dogs are working toward narcotics certification so they can be used on traffic stops or to aid in searches of buildings.
“A K-9 can search a building more efficiently than five officers,” said Puscher, who has been on Vero’s force during times when K-9s were plentiful and when they were scarce. “When you don’t have them, you really know how great you had it with the dog there.”
And of course, they are trained to attack when need be. Reimsnyder said the K-9s are a very effective tool when officers need to de-escalate a situation with a suspect who is resisting.
“A lot of times, you pull up with that dog available, and a guy will change his tune real quick,” said Reimsnyder, who has worked with K-9s since 2002 and been a trainer since 2007.
“I would much rather have a dog and a handler backing me up; you know what these dogs are about. They know how they need to act and where to be. “There has been more than one situation that I don’t know where we would have been without the K-9s,” he added.
But as part of their peace-keeping jobs, the K-9s also act as ambassadors for the various police agencies, so they must also be accustomed to being around crowds of people and around small children.
“A lot of the work we do for public relations requires public interaction, so all these dogs are socialized when we get them,” Reimsnyder said. Also, the handlers take the K-9s home and when off duty, they double as great family companion animals.
Puscher offered some advice to people who might see a K-9 team out and about. “Don’t run up to the handler or be aggressive,” he said, as the dogs are trained to protect their handlers.
K-9 patrol vehicles are equipped with two air-conditioning units and with heat sensors. The car’s sirens are programmed to go on full alert if the interior temperature rises to a pre-determined point.
Generally the thermostat is kept at 72 degrees for the dogs. Officers also have the ability to pop open a hatch to let the K-9 loose should the officer be threatened or if the vehicle is not safe.
Anyone approaching a police vehicle with a K-9 officer in it might also be starteled hearing the barking and growling.
The dogs are very possessive of their vehicles, and the handlers all said the dogs love to be in the car because they know it’s time to go to work.
All the handlers agreed that their dogs get super-excited when they see them suit up for duty because they know they’re going to work.
“They’re just happy to be in the car, so they know they’re not going to miss out on anything fun,” Reimsnyder said.
UPDATE: Both K-9 teams passed their tests and were certified on Thursday, and as of Friday, both K-9 Ofc. Doc and K-9 Ofc. Portos were placed on active duty with the Vero Beach Police Department.