History Of Richmond Police Canine

RICHMOND POLICE DEPARTMENT

HISTORY OF THE CANINE UNIT

1958 - 1998

In the summer of 1957, during a conference between Colonel O. D. Garton, then Chief of Police, and Mr. W. L. Groth, Director of Public Safety for the City of Richmond, a decision was made to study the feasibility of acquiring dogs for police work in the City of Richmond, Virginia. Reports were solicited from cities then using police dogs and from cities which had formerly used them. The City Council was informed as to the results of the reports. Local newspaper informed the public that the Richmond Bureau (at the time) of Police was interested in using dogs in police work.

A local dog obedience club, which was prompted by the Bureaus interest in police dogs, invited Major L. Wilson Davis, then the director of the K-9 Corps of Baltimore Maryland Police Department, to visit the City Of Richmond. Major Davis impressed the area dog lovers with the working ability of the German Shepherds Dogs. A special exhibition for the City Council was given with favorable results.

On December 1, 1957, Sergeant F. G. Clark, Jr., was selected to organize a k-9 corps for the Richmond Bureau Police. His selection was based on prior experience in dog training. Sergeant Clark was sent to Baltimore, Maryland, for three day's, for the purpose of observation and evaluation of dogs being used in police work. Sergeant Clark returned home convinced that properly trained dogs are an asset to law enforcement. After evaluating the report from Sgt. Clark, the Chief of Police and the Public Safety Director gave permission to proceed with the organization of the Richmond Bureau of Police K-9Corps. A call was sent through out the bureau for volunteers. Response were numerous, but applicants were carefully screened. The qualifications for the applicants were exacting and required that each man have a good service record, the proper facilities for providing a good home for the dog, a real desire to work with the dog and the agreement of the wife to have the dog around the house. This last requirement was the most important. After the public announcement, offers of many dogs of various breeds poured into the Bureau.

Sgt. Clark held out for German Shepherds, a breed universally accepted for police work. Subsequently, in February of 1958, after the selection of four dogts, training was started with basic obedience work This training consisted of teaching the dogs to heel, stay, drop on recalls, and obey commands from a distance.

In their spare time, the officers assigned, constructed an obstacle course in a public park (Pine Camp), located in the north side of the City of Richmond. The course consisted of fence jumps, window jumps, bar jumps, hurdles, nine and ten foot scales (walls), eight foot ladders and a crawl box. The crawl box was used to teach the dogs to crawl on command under low obstacles. After mastery of the obstacle course and basic obedience work, the dogs began their training in attack work. Major Davis assisted in this phase of the training.

During the phases of bite work, the dogs had to be under the handlers constant control at all times, and had to be able to attack and release upon the handlers command. The dogs were required to pursue and attack under gunfire and to cease it's apprehension when the suspect surrendered , but to guard the suspect until the handler arrived. Finally, the dogs were taught to track, discriminate between scents, to seek out articles, search buildings room by room and to pursue the search until the suspect was apprehended.

During the training period, the dogs were taken to busy sections of the City of Richmond where they were taught to become accustomed to the sounds of a busy city, such as vehicular traffic noises, the crowded areas of the department stores and all normal everyday city sights and sounds. The dogs and men were then ready for the eight to ten years of service that could be expected from each dog.

In May, 1960, nine more dogs were acquired and handlers assigned to them. A second class was formed and trained. These men and dogs were placed on walking beats in areas where the crime rate was more frequent than in other areas. This brought the K-9 Corps strength to twelve (12) canine teams and one Sgt. with a dog. These men were assigned walking beats between the hours of 8:00 p. m. and 4:00 a. m., with the exception of the sergeant, who patroled the city in a radio equipped vehicle. This allowed him to check on all of the men walking and to be available to answer any radio call where he thought he might be needed.

In mid April of 1965, the K-9 Corps was given the use of the old City Jail Farm, which is located just behind the John Marshall High School grounds. This property had one building on it that would be used for the office space. Under the direction of Sergeant H. M. Schwartz, the members of the K-9 Corps constructed their first permanent home. This location and building are still being used to day. The K-9 members also constructed jumps, cat walks, the jump, the table jump, the culvert, the hurdles jump, ladder climb and wall jump.

In July of 1965, the K-9 Corps was again enlarged by nine (9) men and one sergeant. This brought the k-9 corps to a strength of two (2) sergeants and twenty one (21) patrolman. The K-9 Corps was given three additional vehicles enabling them to cover more area and stand ready to assist other officers in building and field searches. The k-9 Corps were assigned on basic shift arrangement. The night shift worked for two weeks from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. . The day shift worked one week from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. . During the week of day shift, the dogs were re-trained for two day's and the remainder of the week was used for days off accumulated during the previous two weeks.

Re-training continued while the men were working on the street at night. This training consisted of patrol work, where one member of the corps would dress in old clothing and go into the area where the canine team was on patrol. The officer would conceal himself out of the dogs vision, jump and run when he sees the dog and his handler approaching. Very often this was done without the handlers knowledge.