Like Lakeville's Officers, K-9s Also Have Rigorous Training

In law enforcement there are many skills that officers are required to acquire and maintain throughout their careers, such as proficiency with firearms, emergency driving skills, and emergency first aid skills. Our officers train in these areas on an ongoing basis and are tested periodically to make sure that they are proficient and capable in these critical skill areas. 

Just like their human partners, our LPD Police canines are also required to train in critical police skill areas such as obedience, tracking, and apprehension, on an ongoing basis and then have their skills tested in Regional Police K-9 Trials. 

This past week, Officer Chad Loeffler and his K-9 partner, Shadow, and Officer Jason Jensen and his K-9 partner, Zeus, had their skills put to the test at the Region 18 Police Dog 1(PD1) K-9 Trials in Eden Prairie. Successfully competing at the Police K-9 Trials certifies the canines in those critical K-9 skills for police patrol work on the street. 

According to K-9 Supervisor, Sergeant Chad Hagen, both of our K-9 teams did an outstanding job in successfully competing at the Police K-9 Trials and maintained their PD1 certifications. Sergeant Hagen attributed the success of the K-9 teams to the many hours of training that Officer Loeffler and Officer Jensen put in with their canine partners all year long. 

Officer Loeffler and his K-9 partner, Shadow, placed 2nd out of 80 Police K-9 teams participating in the Region 18 K-9 Trials. Officer Jensen and Zeus also had a strong showing in only their second year of competing and finished in the top 25 percent, showing significant improvement over their score from last year. The special capabilities of these two extraordinary canines contribute to public safety for our entire community while making the job of apprehending dangerous criminals safer for all our officers.  

WEEKLY  SNAPSHOT

Sampling of LPD activity for the week of June 7 to June 14, 2012 

Traffic crashes: 18 Alarms: 27 Animal Calls: 28 Medical Emergency Calls: 25 Thefts: 23 Traffic Stops: 264 

LPD OFFICERS COMPLETE BCA MANAGEMENT PROGRAM 

Officer Troy Hokanson and Detective Brad Paulson joined 40 other students in graduating from the BCA Management Certificate Program this past week at the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension headquarters in St. Paul. The two officers successfully completed a series of core and elective courses on law enforcement management topics offered by the BCA over the past two years. I had the honor of joining Minnesota Commissioner of Public Safety, Mona Dohman, and the Superintendent of the BCA, Wade Sutter, in speaking at the graduation ceremony for the officers.