Friday, March 29, 2024

Addition of tracking K9s provides valuable, needed upgrade for department

Posted

HOOD COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

Sheriff Roger Deeds began work as a Hood County deputy in 1998, served as volunteer fire marshal, and was named full-time fire marshal in 2003. He was elected sheriff in 2008. With his guidance, the new emergency operations center opened in 2014.

 

There is always something going on in Hood County and I must always adapt and overcome to better serve the citizens in the county, whether it's obtaining better equipment or more training. I have always tried to have a K9 on duty or available to come on duty for sniffing for drugs in vehicles, but with the increasing calls for missing people or people evading my deputies on foot, it was time to improve the K9 Unit by introducing or upgrading to tracking K9s.  

In the past when someone went missing, the volunteer fire departments and the Sheriff’s Posse, who ride horseback and have done good over the years helping find people, would be called out to help deputies with covering large areas that needed to be searched.

When a person ran from my deputies, the deputies would attempt to locate the person as best as possible but were not always successful. By adding properly trained tracking K9s, they can further assist with tracking these people by the odor left behind as the person wonders off or runs away, sometimes in a quicker period of time.   

Currently the Sheriff’s Office has three certified dogs. Two are certified in Narcotic Detection / Tracking / Articles, while the third is certified in Narcotic Detection / Tracking / Patrol / Articles.

In the past, our K9s were only trained to complete one task, mostly Narcotic Detection, but just as deputies are trained to do multiple task / jobs, now our K9s can do the same by having more than one job or certification. This past week, the K9 teams attended a tracking class, hosted in Hood County, to improve their tracking skills to be able to assist with locating missing people and evading suspects. Just as with most professions, the K9 teams have to complete continuous training, that is almost done daily, and be able to recertify, in each of their certifications, yearly.  

I am very excited for the direction the K9 Unit is going, because the ability of the K9s to smell is so much greater than a human’s, and they are more likely to get on the actual scent of a missing person / evading suspect to assist in finding them very quickly, day or night, and in all kinds of weather to be able to bring them home to their loved ones or taken to jail to answer for the crime(s) they committed.

 

rdeeds@co.hood.tx.us | 817-579-3330