K9’s have a rich history of working with law enforcement and military units dating back to the 1800’s. Police K9’s receive specific training to assist law enforcement in ways other tools cannot. It often takes a trained K9 team only minutes to check a building or large open area for suspects, where it might take hours and many officers to safely contain, locate and apprehend the wanted suspects.
The structure of a dog’s nose gives it a sense of smell that is 300,000-500,000 times stronger than the human nose, allowing them to follow a scent trail undetectable to humans, even breaking down specific scents. For example, humans can smell beef stew cooking, whereas a K9 smells individual ingredients like the onions, carrots, and thyme. Even when the K9 teams are not being used to search for suspects and narcotics, they are great to have as backup on a vehicle stop, pedestrian check or on any other call involving a person who may not want to cooperate with the police.
It is always amazing that when the K9 team arrives—the suspects tend to become very cooperative, and they seldom try to run or hide from the officers. The dogs and their handlers occasionally visit local schools and perform demonstrations for the public.
We Need Your Help
The Upland Police Department desires to add a second K9 Unit to the team. These hard working dogs help locate and arrest violent offenders, locate hidden narcotics, and promote public relations with local schools and the community. As in the past, the K9 program has been funded mainly through public donations made through the Upland Police Foundation. We need your help to raise funds for the purchase of the dog, training and certification, specialized K9 patrol vehicle and various equipment.
