The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has one of the oldest, continuously operating K-9 units in the United States. The unit began with the City of Las Vegas Police Department in 1961.
Currently, the LVMPD K-9 Detail has 20 officers (including three sergeants) and 20 Patrol Dogs, trained to locate human scent. These dogs search for suspects, lost victims, and evidence that suspects may have discarded. three are European bred German Shepherds, three Dutch Shepards, and 13 are Belgian Malinois’ (Mal-in-waa).
We have 17 detection dogs, 11 of the dogs are Narcotic Detector dogs which are trained to locate marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. We use hunting breeds such as Springer Spaniels and Labrador Retrievers because of their high hunt and play drives. We have six Explosive Detector Dogs used to locate many various types of explosives.
The police dog of today is like its human counterpart, professional and highly trained. All of LVMPD’s dogs are kenneled at the handler’s home. Handlers literally spend more time with their partners than any member of their family. Nearly all of LVMPD’s K-9 handlers have children. These dogs blend in well in the family environment. This interaction is a big reason why we have such “social” animals. They understand the difference between work and off time and behave accordingly. Many people refer to police dogs as “mean.” Mean dogs have no place in today’s Police Service Dog programs.
This is only a brief summary of Metro’s K-9 Detail. For more info go to LVMPDK9.com
A big thank you to Clay4 for all of his help and knowledge to help bring this geo-art together