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Bellevue Police K9 Teams Get Recertified

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Bellevue PD’s three K9 teams have been recertified by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. The two-day process is based upon the German police dog standard, considered to be one of the most difficult to meet. The course included one full day of narcotics "finds" and a second day of apprehension work. During the first day of narcotics work the dogs had to complete 14 finds of drugs hidden in various locations including buried underground, in vehicles, suitcases, and many types of buildings.

The second day of recertification was apprehension testing. The day included working with the dogs off leash. The handlers must demonstrate control of their K9s and the dog must demonstrate obedience and courage. The entire procedure must be finished within two days which can create a lot of mental and physical stress for both the dogs and their handlers.

Police K9 teams in Nebraska are not required to be certified. But according to long-time BPD K9 cop Jim Bartley, certification gives the K9 teams credibility, especially if a case were to end up in court. The K9 evaluator during the process was Sgt Ed VanBuren from the Douglas County Sheriff’s office. Bartley explained, "Ed has so much K9 experience, and because we’re certified, if a dog’s reliability comes into question, he can testify for us and he can say what his impression of the dog is and how he scored the dog and whether he passed certification."