Seminar Helps Bloodhounds Sniff Out Crime
MOUNTAIN CENTER – An emotional reunion for Doug Myer and Maggie the bloodhound.
Myer’s mother went missing in 2001 out of her Riverside home. The body was never found but Maggie helped track down the man eventually found guilty of her murder.
“Now to see her again many years later, that she’s still alive. It’s almost like visiting family,” says Myer.
Maggie has helped solve hundreds of missing persons and violent crimes cases.
The success prompted the National Bloodhounds Association to honor the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, one of the first agencies on the west coast to use bloodhounds almost a decade ago.
Their success inspired LAPD to start their own bloodhound unit.
Law enforcement from around the country are in Mountain Center, near Anza, to get training from the association.
Bloodhounds used by police departments in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York will be put to the test, as well as hounds used by law enforcement agencies in Germany and Singapore.
“We gain a lot of experience and practice by as many missions as we commit dogs to. So it makes our dogs and resources sharper when they get exercise,” says Riverside County Sheriff Stanley Sniff.
During the 3 day training seminar the dogs and their handlers will go through training scenarios like looking for missing persons, tracking down suspects and helping the dog keep focused.
“We don’t want them to make a mistake. When somebody is missing we don’t want them looking for a hamburger or walk to McDonald’s, we want them to locate the person we are looking for,” says Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s Sgt. Coby Webb, Maggie’s handler.
One of the training exercises involves having a bloodhound trail a suspect then having the k-9 unit apprehend them. The exercise shows how both breads of dogs can help in an investigation.
Sheriff Sniff says their bloodhound and K-9 units could eventually be used in county jails.
Myers, for one, hopes more law enforcement agencies will sniff out the benefits of the dogs.
“To know these types of organizations are out there to pitch in, it does bring a little bit of solace and closure,” says Myer.
