 Briefing Room |
 Operations Support |
The trained police canine possesses several unique assets which make him a successful front line street tool for law enforcement agencies today. His first asset, that of mere presence, often evokes fear in the criminal great enough to cause him to cease his criminal activity and to comply with police. His second asset, his ability to detect, makes him extremely valuable as a locator. Finally, his instinctive desire to defend his loved ones makes him a superb protector for his human partner.In 1974 the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, realizing the potential for trained police dogs to perform highly specialized and sensitive tasks for this agency, inaugurated its canine program. The ensuing years have demonstrated that a highly successful canine unit can help the department achieve its goals by increasing the number and quality of apprehensions, providing a cost savings in terms of manpower and time needed to carry out its tasks, and adding an invaluable margin of safety during high risk apprehensions.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department's Canine Unit is a support unit to primary police operations. Its mission is threefold: to bring to justice all criminals who refuse to stop their current criminal activity or to ferret out those who have taken flight or concealment, to support patrol in whatever way is practical, and to promote Departmental goodwill to the public.
The unit is organizationally aligned under the Operations Support Division of the Operations Bureau. Members of the unit are guided in their responsibilities by the provisions of the Department's written directive system. This operations manual is intended to provide each handler with the appropriate additional standards necessary for the successful execution of his specialized responsibilities.
The K-9 Unit has a full-time complement of (1) sergeant and (6) officers. Although this Unit has flexible work hours and is continuously on call-out, it works primarily at night from 8PM to 6AM. The primary purpose of this Unit is to provide safe and immediate apprehension of felony suspects. For the previous year recently completed, (234) K-9 apprehensions were made during searches. Our training levels remain the highest anywhere; and by providing in-house training to our patrol force, the Unit has become more efficient in containment perimeter apprehensions.
Our Unit's reputation is at the top of our profession, in both training and performance. We are privileged to have two certified trainers within our Unit. All of our members have been commended on several occasions for their professionalism and dedication to duty. When not tracking or searching, members of this Unit are responsive to calls for service, and provide much needed back-up services to other units. K-9 personnel are also utilized in action plans, and are popular at public events that feature the Police Department.
The standard operating procedure of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department's K-9 Unit is available for law enforcement agencies.
Briefing Room |
Operations Support |