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“With their patrol and scent
training, tracking a criminal, an article for evidence recovery, or
anything that can be used in a crime, with their nose and scent ability,
they are able to locate something or somebody 10 or 20 times faster than
several officers,” said Brenner, now a sergeant on the East Greenwich
police force.
For a while Deuce and Kliff were a tandem, but Kliff was retired earlier
this year due to a tumor and other minor health issues. Kliff still
resides with Brenner and his family and has become a full-time pet.
“You can work a police dog as long as they are healthy,” Brenner said.
“They will literally work 100 percent until they drop dead. So it’s
important to recognize when it’s time to pull back the reigns and slow
them down. But my 2-year-old tries to ride him like a horse sometimes.”
While Kliff was a workhorse for the police for seven years, Deuce joined
the force in 2009. Deuce is younger. He’s 4, and of course more energetic.
The East Greenwich dogs were purchased overseas and then flown to the
United States. Deuce was born in eastern Europe and then at about a year
old, made a 10-hour direct flight to Philadelphia International Airport.
He and Owens went through a seven-month training period at a special
police dog training facility in
Atlantic
County. The first four months are for patrol training and the final three
months are for finding narcotics. Owens and Deuce also spend two days a
month keeping their training up to date.
“All this dog lives for is the work,” said Owens, who has been on the East
Greenwich police force since 2005. “He loves it every day. But with home
life, it’s all about me and my wife. Surprisingly, he turns into a baby at
home. He’s always got his guard up though, just because of who he is.”
With the kind of training the dogs go through, it’s difficult for them to
forget their purpose with the police. At the training academy, the
narcotics training starts with tightly wrapping a drug in a wet towel. The
drug then soaks through the towel causing the dogs to smell it.
“We do hundreds and hundreds of towel tosses,” Owens said. “For them, it’s
a game of fetch. But that odor is getting tattooed into their brain. After
about two months of that, the final month it’s just plain narcotics. But
they remember that smell. All they want to do is go out and find that
smell because they associate that smell with getting a reward.”
In one real-life case, the reward turned out to be quite large.
At a local truck stop a few years ago, Kliff smelled out 50 pounds of
cocaine, which was worth over a $1 million on the street.
“There was a significant disruption in the drug trade to where that was
going,” Brenner said. “But they were able to seize the truck and conduct a
search based on my dog’s alert.”
Brenner and Owens say there are countless times dogs have found evidence
or caught criminals that even the sharpest police officers would not have.
“One time there was a stolen vehicle and we actually did some tracking
with Kliff,” Brenner said. “He started to sniff the ground and there was
an overturned rowboat with a suspect hiding underneath. He picked up on
that when we would have walked right by it.”
And there was a time when an unruly crowd picked up on Deuce’s presence.
“One time we got a call into Paulsboro, there were about 150 people in the
street fighting,” Owens said. “There were only four or five policemen
there trying to get it under control, but the people weren’t moving. They
called for me and I got there a few minutes later. I got out of the car
with the dog and I’ve never seen 150 people move so fast. I got Deuce out
and made my announcement and people were jumping over fences and running.
It was amazing.”
And in what may be considered amazing news for East Greenwich taxpayers,
Kliff and Deuce came at no cost to them. The K-9 patrol was started
strictly with donations and fundraisers, which was used to purchase the
dogs and pay for any, food, medical needs or equipment. Also, the
department gets a percentage of funds if the dog finds narcotics worth a
certain amount.
“Deuce located two pounds of marijuana and $7,500 in cash one time,” Owens
said. “Eventually, that money will be ours and we can use it throughout
the department.”
So, not only do the dogs not cost taxpayers money, they may actually save
taxpayers by adding unexpected money to the budget. So, that’s one reason
the East Greenwich K-9 unit will answer calls for help throughout
Gloucester County, Camden County, from the state police and homeland
security. A big find could mean big money for the dog’s police department.
But the contribution of the dogs isn’t necessarily measured in money or
how many criminals or crime weapons are found.
“I can never measure how many times I’ve drove through a neighborhood,
someone has seen my car and decided they are not going to commit a crime,”
Brenner said. “They know if there is a K-9 Unit around that they will find
them. The dog’s Number one ability is crime deterrent.”
While thieves may try to flee from policemen, they almost never try to
outrun a dog.
“We’ve gone to burglary scenes and literally had the dog make them
surrender,” Brenner said. “Ultimately, that’s what we want. We would
rather not use a bite scenario.”
That type of scenario is sometimes put on display at different township
days, where the police dogs show the public their skills. Those are good
experiences for the dogs as well. “We do a lot of demonstrations,” Brenner
said. “It’s really a key factor to have the public’s support. Some people
don’t understand the purpose of the K-9 unit and the need for them. But
when they are home sleeping, we are out working and deterring crime in
their neighborhood.
“After (the terrorist attacks) of 9/11, law enforcement on the county,
state and local level could not afford to react anymore. We have to be
proactive. Anything we have at our disposal can help us stay ahead of the
game.”
Owens used a recent competition to help Deuce stay on top his game. They
finished second in the novice category in a police dog competition this
fall in Pennsylvania. Owens’ and the other officers’ biggest challenge was
just keeping their dogs under control. “Every one of those dogs wants to
be the Alpha dog,” Owens said of the animals’ natural desire to be in
charge. “I actually walked him closer to another dog to let him know I’m
in control. But they are all going to try and stand their ground.”
Owens said getting Deuce to become the No. 2 personality in the
relationship didn’t happen easily.
“That process took me all seven months and then some,” Owens said. “At the
academy, we were brand new to each other and I am trying to establish
stuff and he wants to be in control. But he’s a very loyal dog and I’m
very happy to have the opportunity to work with him.”
And while Owens and Deuce take the opportunity to help other townships,
there’s still plenty of activity in
East Greenwich,
which has seen its population double in the past 10 years.
“The more people you have, that means there is probable cause for more
crime,” Brenner said. “You’re just fundamentally going to have more crime.
The use of the dogs for patrol and for finding narcotics is going to
increase.”
The department and Deuce could be getting an increase in help at about
this time next year. East Greenwich hopes to have the funds to add a
second dog in early 2013. That will add to the area’s K-9 units, which
includes West Deptford and Franklin Township’s two dogs each and
Washington Township’s five dogs.
“A lot of these towns didn’t have them before,” Brenner said. “There’s
been a huge rise in the use of canines. The towns that don’t have them
rely on the guys that do have them.” |
