Meriden Police Reinstate K-9 Program with Two New Dogs

Anouke the German Shephard seemed like any other happy-go-lucky pup as she brought a toy – a blue rubber ball with a tether – to her owner David Buck so that the two could play fetch on a recent evening in the field behind Israel Putnam Elementary School. 

But the dog, in her first week as a member of the Meriden Police, has gone far beyond what you'd expect from the average pet. Since officially starting duty at midnight on July 3, Anouke has already tracked and flushed out a suspect from hiding, searched a car found to have 10 folds of heroin, and with a boost from her handler-owner Officer Buck, jumped over at least a dozen backyard fences to keep the trail on both fleeing suspects and missing persons. And this, Meriden Police say, is just the beginning. 

Anouke is the first of the two new police dogs that Meriden Police are reintroducing to the department this year, since disbanding their K-9 unit in 2004.

The previous dogs were retired that year because of bites to officers and others that resulted in multiple costly lawsuits against the city.

But Police Chief Jeffry Cossette says the new dogs, Anouke, and "Kilo" who was recently acquired from Czech Republic but won't come online until this fall, are less of a liability than previous canines.

Unlike the former "aggressive response" dogs, Anouke and Kilo are "passive response" dogs. They are solely trained to track, search and sniff out drugs and other evidence but not to attack or apprehend. 

"I was a canine handler years ago and I’ve always believed in the dogs," Cossette said of his decision to reinstate the K-9 unit. He was a dog handler as a Meriden officer in the early 1980s. "The sense of smell of a dog is amazing, how much power they have."

The majority of the funds for dogs, training, special gear and vehicles is being paid for through drug asset-forfeiture money.

"It's great. The drug dealers are paying for the dogs to catch more drugs," Cossette said. The city also allotted $5,000 for the new unit in its 2011-2012 budget.

Buck spearheaded the K-9 unit's return. The four-year Meriden officer formerly served as an officer in Easton, Conn. There he assisted that town's K-9 unit and became used to working with dogs and handlers.

"Shortly after coming to Meriden and working on first and third watches I found that there was a great need for a K-9 Unit in Meriden," Buck said in a 2009 proposal to the department to start a new unit. "Without having our own K-9 Unit the patrol officers were losing valuable time while waiting for a K-9 from another town to arrive."

Buck, who works the 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift at the department, said officers save precious minutes when they don't have to call in K-9 units from surrounding towns like Southington or Berlin. 

While the department was considering the proposal, Buck started Anouke, his own puppy, in police K-9 training on his own. After about 650 hours of training, and more than a year, the dog and handler are now fully certified in tracking, narcotic detection, evidence recovery and obedience with the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association.

Neighborhood Initiative Officer Jason DeGumbia was selected by the department last month to handle Kilo. The two-and-a-half year old dog was selected and transported from Czech Republic in June according to Buck, and DeGumbia will start training with Kilo in late summer. The two will likely hit the streets by October.

When it comes to tracking people, passive response dogs follow the human scent and other clues like crushed vegetation.

Those fleeing pursuit will often sweat more and shed adrenaline from fear, Buck said, leaving the dogs with a strong trail. Wanderers like dementia or Alzheimer's patients, who aren't fearful, just confused can be tougher to find, but still leave a scent for the animals to follow.

Anouke can detect cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, and marijuana. If she sniffs one of these drugs, she will sit down near the drug to tell Buck where it is. She will lay down when she finds other types of evidence - personal items that carry a human scent. 

Buck gave a demonstration of Anouke's recovery skills in the field behind Israel Putnam School to this reporter last Thursday. He faced the dog away from me and had me throw my keys – something I handled often – far into the tall grass behind the school. After several minutes of other demonstrations meant to distract the dog, he told her, using a combination of verbal and hand commands, to locate the object.

She walked through the grass, nose to the ground in a weaving line, passed the location of the keys once, then returned and laid down next to them.

After that, Buck gave her the ball as a reward.

"It's always for the toy," he said.

Correction: We were originally told and reported that the department's second dog was arriving from Denmark. She, Kilo, actually came from the Czech Republic, according to Officer DeGumbia.