Home > About Us > Stories > 2007 Archive

BPD K9 Units Become SWAT Dog Certified

Bellevue Police Departments' three dog teams are now certified by the Nebraska State Patrol as Swat Dog Teams. Bellevue's K9 Unit attended the "Tactical Dog Course" which ran May 9th-11th. The K9 Unit includes Officer Heller and Police Service Dog Zeke, Officer Franks and PSD Spike and Officer Bartley and PSD Rex.

The training was sponsored by the Douglas County Sheriffs Department and the instructors were from the Nebraska State Patrol. In addition to the actual training and certification, the three day class was also geared towards finding out if the dogs can meet the requirements of a Tac dog. One test was to do surveillance for an hour with distractions every ten minutes. Officer Bartley said initially he didn't think the dogs could do it, and added "anytime you put a dog in situation where they’ve never been before and they handle it well, it shows that they can do it, just like a person. So once they’ve done it, in their mind they know they can. Something that we thought was impossible we now know is possible."

An additional goal of the training was to test the physical endurance of the teams and their ability to work in and around the SWAT team. Officers rappelled with their dogs, were required to carry their dogs up ladders, and run them for two miles.

Photo: Officer Bartley rappels with Rex