Utah is not a mandatory state when it comes to police K9 certification. It is however, heavily recommended. For quite some time I was also under the impression that Utah required certification, but it does not.

Kevin mentioned he remembered seeing the dog at a past certification event, but did not know if it certified on anything. Even if it didn't, if the handler has kept immaculate training records the dog can be put on the street, and I suppose even without the records if it came down to it. The question remains if the dog can actually do the work. Any dog can be put on the street, it is just what level of proficiency the department requires. I would think a bomb detection dog would have to have a near perfect proficiency rate to even be on the street, and I am talking over 99%. Howard what accuracy rate is standard? Given the nature of bomb detection work I would think 100% would be best... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Most departments locally (I am in Utah) require the K9 and handler to certify. The certification training course is free to in-State agencies, so that adds incentive to certify. Still, I am sure there are a few agencies that haven't had their teams certified. Perhaps this particular dog is certified as dual purpose drug and patrol, and has added bomb detection but has not certified on it. Hell, maybe the dog certified on all three....who knows.

I thought that UTAH had to have the POST cert. Thanks for the info. The Patrol cross training is nothing really new. While it is hard to maintain a bomb dog, lots of departments in the bigger cities have Patrol/Bomb dogs. But it is crazy to have a dog trained for drugs and bombs; how do you know what the dog is alerting on, forgetting about the legal issue's that come with this. In theory this passive for one aggressive another may be nice, but it seems hard enough to maintain one disipline, let alone both in one dog reliably. I would like to hear what some of the boards K-9 handlers think of this practice, or not this case on point, but the theory of it.

The Utah POST K9 judge/instructor that I train with thinks even the theory of it would be difficult to acheive. Simply put, it takes enough as it is to maintain a dog in one discipline let alone two. Even then there is no guarantee the accuracy rates will remain adequate.

In theory the active indication for a drug detection and an inactive indication for a bomb detection would be ideal, though I think there is still too great a chance to get the signals crossed......and then what. And while I do not know the maintanence training that is needed for a drug dog (yet), or a bomb dog, it would seem to me that there would simply be not enough time in the work day for a lone handler to keep the dog up to par. When would the dog ever have time to go to work?

Drew,
Currently in the state of Florida, minimum accuracy for a drug detection dog is 95% whereas an EDD is required to be 98% (more pressure). So now we're talking about tripling the number of odors AND raising the detection percentage.
This guy you spoke of with the super dog, I feel sorry for the dog...too much pressure to perform, must be a miserable life....Howard

I suspect the term "drug enforcement" was probably used in the context of apprehending dealers, rather than finding drugs.

Could be wrong, but that would make a lot more sense.

If you guys are involved with the Utah folks, maybe someone can track down this handler/k-9 and find out the facts.

I just thought it was interesting that bulldogs were being used in a SWAT environment from the context of the original discussion.

I find it interesting that Bulldogs are being used at all. Especially here in Utah. Now days pretty much all you find are the Malinois'. The K9 director at POST has adopted the breed over the GSD, so many agencies are using them. Not to say there are not any GSDs out there, but there numbers are dwindling.....atleast here in Utah.

I just put a call into the Sergeant who is the handler of the AB we have been discussing. I left a voice mail, and hopefully he will return my call. The receptionist stated they are still using that dog, though she was unaware the dog was a bomb detector. We'll see what the handler has to say.