Police departments in Europe having been using trained dogs for hundreds of years, starting in the 1300s in St. Malo, France. In 1895, in Paris, France, the city police department created a corps of dogs to help combat gang activity. Seeing how well the dogs helped the police bring gangs under control, police departments in other countries began establishing their own K9 (also called K-9 or canine) units and training programs. In 1907, the New York City Police Department sent an officer to Europe to study K9 training programs. The officer determined that a program established in Ghent, Belgium, was the best. He purchased five dogs, brought them to New York, and used that program’s techniques to establish the first police K9 training program in the United States.
During World War I and World War II, military K9 units were established. The dogs were used to guard sensitive areas, deliver messages, and to search battlefields for wounded soldiers and to return and alert medical workers to retrieve those soldiers. During World War II, the United States military requisitioned 11,000 dogs, and eventually began training the dogs for law enforcement activities. Shortly after the war ended, police departments in cities throughout Europe and the United States began establishing, or re-establishing, their own K9 training and K9 policing teams (a team consists of the dog and its handler).
Today, there are more than 50,000 K9 teams in the United States. About half of the law enforcement agencies in the United States have at least one K9 team. These K9 units can be extremely effective in assisting peace officers for many reasons, including:
- Detection. Dogs in general, and certain breeds in particular, have a highly-developed sense of smell. Dogs can accurately detect certain compounds at a level of parts per trillion—far better than any portable mechanical scent detectors. This level of detection is equivalent to being able to taste a quarter-teaspoon of sugar completely dissolved into the amount of water it takes to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool.
- Quick, accurate searches. A K9 team immediately deployed to the scene of a missing person or fleeing suspect can quickly find the individual, even if the individual has seemingly disappeared into a large building or a dense forest at night. This saves the police department many hours of searching, freeing those officers for other assignments. When the missing person is a lost child or suicidal person, rapid deployment may save the individual’s life.
- Avoid using deadly force. Statistically, in more than 90 percent of K9 deployments to apprehend a potentially violent suspect, the suspect surrenders. A study of 1,500 law enforcement agencies throughout the United States showed that the K9 bit the suspect in fewer than 7.5 percent of K9 deployments. Further, in the entire history of K9 use in the United States, over many decades and tens of thousands of deployments, there have been a total of three deaths due to the K9 biting the suspect, showing that K9 use is far safer than many other means—such as drawing a firearm—to apprehend a suspect. By reducing the level of force needed to apprehend suspects, K9 teams can reduce injuries and save the lives of both suspects and police officers.
Although K9 teams are effective, they come at a cost. Few dogs have the physical characteristics and temperament for police work. Due to the limited supply and increased demand for good police dogs, a single untrained puppy can cost upwards of $8,000. The initial training, which involves both the young dog and its officer-handler, can cost another $15,000 or more. Also, K9s must have continual ongoing training to keep at top performance and obedience. This training, and reports of each deployment, must be recorded in a records management system so that handlers can keep on top of their K9s’ training needs and also so that law enforcement agencies can use the information to show judges, juries, and opposing counsel the reliability of the K9. K9 units also need special equipment, including training kits, decontamination kits, and reliable and safe transportation. Finally, like any other dog, a K9 needs food, shelter, and veterinary care. However, a K9 typically needs a higher calorie diet and may have more extensive veterinary needs due to encounters with violent suspects and toxic substances.
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