Plainfield police motorcycle ride to benefit fund to honor fallen officers

Plainfield’s Policeman’s Benevolent Association Local No. 19 is holding its second annual Memorial Run this weekend, during which Central Jersey motorcycle riders are offered a day of fun and a chance to contribute to a fund created to build a memorial to honor the city’s fallen officers.

Registration for the ride is scheduled to take place from 10 a.m.-noon Sunday, April 25 in the city’s Cedar Brook Park. The ride begins around noon and runs from the Queen City to the popular Bar Anticipation in Belmar. The cost is $25 per rider and $10 per passenger.

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Police dogs attend K-9 college in Yakima

The old cartoon crime dog McGruff’s slogan may be “Take a bite out crime,” but a real police dog’s primary asset is its sniffer.

“The main reason we use them is for their nose,” said John Munson, president of the Washington State Police Canine Association.

Of course, powerful jaws that can clamp down on a forearm or ankle help too, especially when a police dog scrambles into a dark, confined space pursuing a bad guy who might have a gun.

That’s one of the scenarios that dogs and their handlers encounter at the WSPCA spring seminar this week in Yakima. There are 14 training sites, eight for K-9 patrol dogs and six for drug dogs.

There are 125 K-9 units from law enforcement agencies around the Northwest and British Columbia participating in the training seminar, hosted by the Yakima Police Department.

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Video shows dog leading Alaska troopers to fire

How smart dogs are!

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A dashcam video from the Alaska State Troopers shows a dog leading them through winding back roads to a blazing fire at his owners’ property.

The video on the troopers’ website shows the German shepherd running to meet the trooper’s vehicle, then racing to the house on Caswell Lakes on April 4.

Troopers say Buddy and his owner, 23-year-old Ben Heinrichs, were in the family workshop when a heater ignited chemicals. Heinrichs told Buddy: “We need to get help.”

The dog eventually found a trooper responding to a call about the fire.

The State Troopers are presenting a special award Friday to the dog. Buddy will receive an engraved silver-plated dog bowl in Anchorage.

Heinrichs suffered minor flash burns on his face. The workshop was destroyed, but only some window trim on the house was damaged.

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THP Announces Trooper of the Year 2009

The Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) today named Trooper Donald “Dewaine” Jennings as the 2009 Trooper of the Year. The announcement was made during a special ceremony Thursday, April 22, at 10:00 a.m., at the THP Training Center located at 283 Stewarts Ferry Pike in Nashville.

Trooper Jennings, assigned to DeKalb County in the Cookeville District, was named Trooper of the Year for an act of heroism on December 13, 2009. He responded to a traffic crash where he found a vehicle submerged on its top in a rain-swollen creek. The creek water was high and the current was swift. Nobody at the scene had checked to see if there was an occupant inside the vehicle. Without hesitation, or regard for his own safety, Trooper Jennings entered the frigid, waist-deep water to check for entrapped passengers. Unable to determine if anyone was inside the vehicle, Trooper Jennings called for a wrecker to hoist the car out of the creek. Although the efforts of Trooper Jennings did not save the life of the driver, he made every effort, including risk to his own safety, when he entered the water knowing that he could not swim.

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Boswell receives new K9 officer

After nearly six months of training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, K9 officer Jaro, a two year old German Shepard, arrived at the Boswell Police department for his first day of work, Wednesday.

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Indiana State Police Get New Vehicles

Drivers in southeast Indiana will notice a new type of police cruiser on the road.

Two troopers from the Indiana State Police Versailles District have gotten new 2010 Dodge Charger patrol vehicles.

The Dodge Chargers have a more powerful engine and they’re also more fuel efficient.

Indiana State Police say the new cruisers are part of an aggressive effort to reduce the number of accidents and injuries on roadways.

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Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department reaches a milestone

On Thursday, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department’s will be presented the accreditation it earned earlier this year, making it the first Sheriff’s Department in the state to achieve that milestone.

The office joins an exclusive group of 16 Montgomery County police departments that have earned the accreditation, according to Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Allen Stewart.

On 11 a.m. Thursday, Acting Sheriff Alfred Ricci will formally accept the accreditation presented to the department by Dick Hammon, coordinator of The Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Accreditation Commission.

The presentation will be held on Main Street in front of Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown.

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State Police K9 Training in Central Oregon

Over 160 K9s and Officers from around the State were busy at work in Bend and Redmond today.

It’s training for police K9s, putting them in real life scenarios.

Patrol and Narcotic dogs went through various exercises with their Officers.

The Narcotics dogs were lead into rooms with many distractions–the drugs hidden inside.

“The big goal is lots of contamination, food, animals that type of thing. It’s a huge distraction for them,” says Bruce Kelley, President Oregon Police K9 Association.

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McDonough Police Department adds new K-9 officer

The McDonough Police Department has a new K-9 officer with an international pedigree.

Rocco, a three-year-old Belgian Malinois, was introduced to the McDonough City Council at its meeting on Monday. He was presented to the council by his handler, McDonough Police Officer Gregory Lyons.

“They [the police department] sent me to Louisiana to train with him for three weeks, starting March 22,” he said. “After the three weeks, we were allowed to bring him home.”

Lyons began belting out commands that sounded a far cry from “sit” and “fetch.” Rocco’s commands are given in Dutch, said Lyons.

“It’s a lot easier to train me to give him commands in Dutch, versus trying to train him again in English, and him being confused,” Lyons said after his visit to the council.

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Meet Tazer! The Newest Member of the Illinois State Police

Rocky was responsible for more than $800,000 dollars in illegal drug and money seizures last year alone and now this state police dog has a friend to lessen his work load.

This is Tazer, he’s the second k-9 unit for District 16 in Pecatonica. The dogs are used for narcotics, evidence and suspect searches, as well as for crowd control. Trooper Eric Paulsen says there’s now one dog for each shift for day and for night and that will be a big help.

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