Four-legged furry officers help take bite out of crime

One of the most valuable tools for law enforcement is a strong and healthy K9 unit, like the one with the Palm Springs Police Department.

There are many requirements an officer has to meet before he or she can join the K9 team.

“You have to be at least two years as part of the department then you go physical ability tests, oral board tests, then you have to come out, show a lot of interest in the team,” said Officer Lucianio Colantuono with the Palm Springs Police Department K9 Team.

Once an officer gets a spot on the team and gets paired with a canine partner it takes a lot of work to grow and become an effective team.

“It takes a long time, you have to build up this trust level between the two of you,” said Officer Steven Sanders with the Palm Springs Police Department K9 Team.

“The dog knows what you’re doing, you know what the dog’s doing. It just flows down to the leash. The dog knows when you are going to make a turn, he knows when you’re going to stop. The bond is inseparable,” said Colantuono.

Some police departments outfit their dogs with body armor, but this doesn’t work out here in the desert.

“Typically we don’t have any body armor for them, it’s too hot for the desert, it doesn’t work with the dogs,” said Sanders.

“You need them to have that agility, you need them to be able to jump over walls, you need them to go after the suspect, so now you’re going to weigh them down, they’re not going to be used for what they are meant to be for,” said Colantuono.

But these four-legged officers can be very expensive, and hard to replace. The Palm Springs Police Department will be having their Run for Ike 5K fundraising event on April 4, 2015.

“They are only there for so long, they work for about six or seven years then they retire out and the cost for a replacement dog is about $15,000 to $17,000,” said Colantuono.

“The city will pick up everything but the purchase price of the dog. We do all that through donations to the K9 Unit,” said Sanders.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE RUN FOR IKE DETAILS

The Palm Springs Police Department used to have four dogs on the street and two at the airport. Now, they have half that.