K9 Officers Train To Take Out Shooters, Find Drugs, Take Bullet For Partner
ERIE, Colo. (CBS4)- K9 officers from all over Colorado converged in Erie on Wednesday to brush up on their training on a variety of scenarios. The dogs trained on how to better prepare them for active shooting situations, traffic stops and area searches.
A bank robbery suspect hiding in a car, possibly with a weapon. It's the kind of scenario K9 Officer Marko lives for.
Marko is among dozens of K9 officers from all over Colorado that got a refresher course on multiple situations from high risk traffic stops to active shooters.
"You can see their loyalty and their bravery, something I just can't begin to describe," said Arvada Police Officer Brain Laas.
Laas is also president of the Colorado Police K9 Association which provided the training in Erie. He said the dogs not only run through hundreds of hours of scenarios before being deployed but 10 hours of training per day while on the job.
"The human partner will complain, these guys do not. This is what they live for, you can see how much they love what they do," said Laas.
From finding drugs to bombs, missing people to fugitives, the K9s are used in a wide range of situations to assist their human counterparts.
"Their sense of smell is 100 to 1,000 times over that of a human being, so when we're going into a building I would never know but the dog would know immediately that someone is in there," said Laas.
The dogs are trained to take a bullet for their partner.
"Ninety to 95 percent of people will surrender to a K9 versus an officer," said Laas.
While the State of Colorado doesn't recognize the K9 units as officers, Laas will tell you these dogs are among the most dedicated members of the police force.
"The bond we have, there's no doubt that Beaker will do whatever he can for me and I'll do the same for him," said Laas.
There are about 150 police K9s in Colorado. Most of them retire by the time they are 8 years old. The Colorado Police K9 Association helps with the dogs medical bills.
