I’m not a police officer but my local department asked me to track an arson suspect last week. I didn’t do it because my dog doesn’t have experience on night tracks. What would you recommend?

I do not agree with a civilian volunteering to track felony suspect. It's a bad policy for departments to ask people like you to come out and do this work. It's a dangerous thing to get involved with. If people want to get involved at this level they should get into police work, go through the police academy, get state certified and learn how to do the work.

Now, to answer your question. If you have 50 or 60 tracks into your dog you can start a few night tracks. Humans make much more of this than dogs do. Tracking at night is not a big deal for them. While I have never read any research on a dogs night vision, I believe they have much better eyes than we do at night. I have used $6,000.00 military night vision goggles to track suspects with my police dog. I have been out a number of times when it's clouding and zero light. It's so dark that you could not see someone that is 5 or 10 feet from you in the woods. The dogs can run around and they never run into a tree.

So my point is that if you are doing unknown tracks with confidence, then you are ready to throw in a few night tracks.

I think the issue here is that if you do decide to do this work, as a civilian, you need to make sure that the officers that come with you on a track are very physically fit. Most cops are not in good enough shape to keep up to a K9 handler running a dog. People underestimate how much a dog pulling a handler down a track helps the handler run. It's like being attached to a sled dog, they pull you along. The back up officers do not have this advantage and usually can not keep up.

If you run away from your protection (backup), things can go bad real quick if you run up on a desperate armed suspect. Especially when you do not have a dog that will protect you and you do not have the training and equipment to handle the situation.

Stick with your S&R work for lost people. That's where you services are best used.

If you need additional advise on this - read the following email I got from one of my puppy customers (Doug Hunter) who is a Deputy Sheriff:

Last spring I had what I call a "wake up track." A highway patrol trooper was arresting a DUI driver and the guy ran from the trooper on foot. I was called to track the guy and did so. We tracked at night in the rain for about 3/4 mile in a semi residential area.

I tracked right up to an old barn with a crawl space under it. The guy was hiding under the barn. During the track my back up officers had fell behind (the dog pulling me helps) so I was alone when I found the guy. At the time my mind set was "this guys is just a drunk who wants to get away" I gave my commands to the guy to come out from under the barn--then BANG!

The guy had taken a pistol out and shot himself in the head. It turned out that he was driving someone else's car and had given the trooper a phony name. There were two B&E warrants for the guy I was chasing.

So it turned out that the drunk who was just avoiding a DUI arrest was actually an armed felon who could have chosen to shoot it out with me or other officers who were involved. Exactly why he decided to kill himself I have no idea.

I do not think some people know how close you can be to a suspect and the dog not know he is there. In this case the dog let me know where the guy was but I have had case's (like you) with guys in trees or just hiding in a spot were the wind is not in the dogs favor and your right on top of them before you know it.

While the night time tracking of suspects is exciting & rewarding--it is also very dangerous. You never know what is on the end of the track.

Doug

Here is a second email I received concerning this issue of civilians doing felony tracks for police departments:

Ed,

I read your response to the S&R handler whose local Police Dept. wanted him to run a track for them on a felon. That to me seems very questionable at best. I will relate something along the lines of Deputy Hunter's story.

Last May I had a track of a party who was driving through yards in a new subdivision in our city. While doing this a neighbor called and an off duty officer just coming home from a part time job (We have take home cars) was basically on top of the call and got into a short pursuit with the vehicle. The driver and passenger drove into a construction sight and got stuck in the mud. Upon getting stuck the 2 suspects bailed from the vehicle and ran. The off duty officer pursued the driver but lost him in a wood line between the subdivision he was in and a more established (built up) subdivision. Once loosing the suspect he stopped and called for a K9 as it was determined the car was stolen.

At the time I was approximately 15 miles away on the opposite side of the city. I was able to jump onto the 4 lane limited access highway and make it their in approximatly 12 minutes. A good perimeter and been set up by our patrol officers and the dog tracked the suspect into the older adjoining subdivision and indicated that the suspect had jumped a privacy fence and by his indication I felt he was in this yard. Myself and the original pursuing officer. (He went as my back up.) went to the yard and gave a verbal warning. We received no response so I cut the dog off leash (Still in his harness) and let him do an area search of the yard. Within 30 seconds he indicated on a shed. I called the dog from the shed and gave a verbal warning for anyone in the shed to come out. I got no response. I along with the dog approached the only doors to the shed, which were opposite opening doors that came together in the middle. As I slowly opened the door the suspect was just inside the door and slammed the other door into me and knocked me off balance. A struggle then ensued for my gun. Fortunately I was able to keep it down as it was fired. It struck the dog who at this point had engaged the suspect. Fortunately the dog kept in the fight and he and I along with the back up were able to subdue the suspect. One other fortunate aspect is that the bullet struck the dog at a downward angle in the harness causing him only a minor wound. He was able to come back to work in 13 days.

My point in telling this story is not to tell a war story, but just to reiterate your point that you NEVER know what is going to happen. Fortunately for me I had a dog that stayed in the fight despite being shot. Also you can't always control the situation. As a Police Officer there are certain risks that have to be taken. You try to minimize them through training and tactics, but there is an element of risk there. The other point is if the unfortunate happened my family would receive Federal, state and pension money if I were killed. As a civilian in an S&R club I am not sure what benefits there would be.

My last point on this is that most times that a Police K9 is used it is for a suspect who is desperate to get away. If they weren't they would have surrendered in the 1st place. Ed, these are just some thoughts of mine that I wanted to convey as I think you were right on the money with that advice.

Thanks,
Steve

So with all of this said, I would strongly suggest S&R people who are considering doing police tracks think long and hard before they jump into the woods without proper training. Things can go from fun and exciting to drop dead dangerous and dirty in about 2 seconds.

Regards,
ED Frawley