Thursday, January 20, 2011

K-9 activity

Capt. Mike Woolman commands the Lincoln Police Department's Southwest Team, a group of 47 personnel who deliver police services around the clock and 365 days a year in one of our five geographic command areas. In addition, he also coordinates our police service dog program citywide--five handlers and their assigned dogs.

Capt. Woolman gave me a recap of the 2010 activity by our K-9 officers, and it was pretty impressive.  In 2010, there were 462 incidents where K-9s were called to assist.  This included 141 track of suspects or missing persons, 197 narcotics searches, 99 building and area searches, and 25 SWAT Team deployments.  These cases resulted in 87 felony arrests and 146 misdemeanor arrests. The K-9s participated in the location and seizure of controlled substances with an estimated value of $4.9 million, and $97K cash. That's a pretty productive year, I'd say.

The workload was spread out among Officer John Clarke and Remo, Officer Tyler Dean and Kony, Officer Chris Vollmer and Brix, Officer Jeff Urkevich and Jake, and Officer Nikki Loos and Dexter.  By the way, the current K-9 trading cards are awfully nice, if you can snag one from a handler refilling a Big Gulp or grabbing a sandwich.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here is an idea.
Rent some space on Star-Tran or UNL bus lines. Post a featured Crime Stoppers photo (Chiefs Choice) on the bus side or back. You may not afford the paint for Star Tran's mural stuff, but signs are also made for this too. I venture local business would donate.
How did reading the canine blog today solicit this thought?
GOOOOOD day.

Anonymous said...

How many dogs (and handlers) would you need to ensure that at least one dog and handler were on-duty 24/7/365? This would, of course, include covering days off, vacations, etc.

Steve said...

How are the dogs getting along in their less roomy transports?

Watchful said...

That is an average deployment of the dogs at over 1 per day. Even though they are seemingly productive looking at the numbers, is it possible they are under utilized considering they are on duty (I believe at least one is on almost around the clock) all day long? I know these officers respond to all calls for service and have regular training sessions. The question is whether or not other officers consider calling on the services of the dogs for incidents where they could be a benefit and catch a criminal VERY soon after the fact.

Anonymous said...

Chief-Just curious. I would assume you share the services of your dogs with nearby NSP and LSO. Any idea how many times they were used by your partners in crime fighting?

256

Anonymous said...

Chief,
How do the State Patrol,Lincoln PD and Lancaster Sheriff's office dispose of asset seizures in Lancaster County? Do they each have a separate fund for Lancaster County or is there a pool divided among the agencies?

A list of purchases from these funds might be interesting also.

Gun Nut

Anonymous said...

Jim J,
Do you want to reduce the ridership on Star Tran even further? Many of my neighbors use the buses and if they couldn't use buses to get around they might be tempted to steal my old clunker.

Gun Nut

Anonymous said...

Gun Nut: awsome point...made for great laugh!

ARRRRG!!!! said...

My dog is trained to sniff out different things.

Steve said...

Gun Nut:

You might consider changing neighborhoods. Or, get a dog like Arrrrg's. How does he shoot that little gun, anyway?

Anonymous said...

Beautiful dogs! Is there an easier way to acquire the K9 trading cards? I have only been pulled over once by a K9 unit (forgot to renew my plates), and I didn't know about the trading cards at the time. Now I know to ask!

Anonymous said...

Chief,

Looks like Ofc. Clarke had a nice traffic stop the other day out side he court house no less. Looks like Remo is not the only one in that cruiser that can sniff out crime. Good job Ofc. Clarke!

Anonymous said...

I like the trading card idea.

When I was a trouble making street dweller, I carried a small photo album filled with the officers (both city and campus)business cards which I collected whenever negative contact had been made. I had deputies and various fire official's cards included.

Every one needs a hobby right?

Anonymous said...

It's only fitting that Mike "Spotty Dog" Woolman would be in charge of the K9 Unit!