Centralia Police Department Chief Andy Caldwell knew the large turnout had something to do with his special guests.
“Everybody loves dogs,” Caldwell said with a smile.
On Thursday evening, dozens of curious humans filled Centralia Church of the Nazarene for the police department’s February town hall meeting to see two dogs — K9 Hector and K9 Havik.
Officers Daniel Cox and Kyle Stockdale delighted the crowd as they ran the dogs through a series of demonstrations that included obedience, area searches, and the main event — a simulated attack on suspected criminals.
In this case, the would-be criminals — Cox and Stockdale out of uniform — wore large protective coverings over their arms. Right where the dogs are trained to bite and hold.
In order to become certified for K9 patrol in Washington state, K9 teams must prove their proficiency in all the above skills and more. 400 hours of training are required for a new handler and their K9. Previous handlers still require 200 hours of training for new K9s.
Cox said he graduated from the program last December. He’s paired with Hector, a year-and-a-half-old Belgian Malinois from the Netherlands.
Cox trained in Vancouver. He described the process as hard and, at times, stressful.
Stockdale trained in Spokane, where he lived for about 10 weeks. His partner, Havik, is a German shepherd.
Patrol isn’t the only area requiring certification. To become certified in narcotics detection, teams undergo 200 hours of training and must recertify every two years.
Police use dogs for a number of reasons, according to Cox and Stockdale. Their hearing is more sensitive and can register sound from greater distances. They see better than humans at night. They can run up to 35 mph. And their sense of smell is up to 1 million times stronger.
In other words, K9s make for an ideal search companion. They’re also used as a less-deadly means of force. And their intimidation factor can increase the odds of peaceful surrender.
When it comes to seeking out humans, the dogs detect the scent of skin cells — known as rafts — floating around in the air. The average human body sheds about 40,000 each minute.
Each human being has their own unique scent profile that can be amplified during the stress of, say, trying to hide from or outrun a police officer.
All of this plays into the biological strengths of the K9, who tracks the rafts as they travel through air currents.
“If we find someone, and they make some sort of excuse, like, ‘Well it wasn’t me, you must have tracked someone else here,’ it’s like, ‘No, we tracked from the car that you stole and ran from, and now we’re here, and your stuff was in the car, too,” Stockdale said.
K9 teams share a unique bond. The dogs live with their handlers and rely on them for all of their everyday needs: food, water, shelter, play.
In short, they become part of an officer’s family.
Despite their utility, police K9 units are rare in Lewis County. Havik and Hector make up two of the three dogs. Kimbo, from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, is the lone other.
“The K9 program, it’s really important to recognize that what it does is it protects officers,” Caldwell said. “So for every time a K9 has to attack or go after a suspect, that’s one time that we don’t have to have an officer exposed at that risk, and that dog takes that risk for us.”
He added, “We’re grateful for our K9s and we’re really grateful for our K9 officers.”
Like Caldwell emphasized multiple times throughout the evening, police dogs are meant to be respected, not touched. If you need to communicate with a K9 team, speak to the handler.
Otherwise, the consequences could be painful.
The Centralia Police Department’s K9 program is funded through public donations, according to the agency, and supported by the Centralia Police K9 Association.
To follow the association, visit https://www.facebook.com/CentraliaPDK9.
