Kilo is only 3 years old, but he carries a badge for the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department.
The snow white German shepherd is one of two dogs on the recently revived K-9 unit in Cuyahoga Falls. Canine trainer Sgt. Perry Tabak, who handles Kilo, and Patrolman David Holzapfel, who handles Diesel – the other four-legged officer of the law – are thrilled to have the K-9 unit back in action.
Tabak credits Tom Pozza, who became chief of police in January, with reviving the K-9 program. “Chief Pozza took over at the beginning of the year, and that was one of the very first things he did.” The program had been in hiatus for about a year, Tabak said.
“Diesel’s really glad to be back to work,” Holzapfel said. “Made my life easier.”
“Diesel is a high-energy dog,” Tabak said as the dogs frolicked with chew toys outside.
“The schools love having the unit back,” Tabak said, “because they don’t want the kids bringing drugs to school. You may not be able to stop them from doing it all the time, but at least let ’em know we don’t want you doing it at school, bringing it to school and giving it out to other kids.”
Tabak has been on the Falls police force for 17 years and helped launch the K-9 unit in 1995-96. “That was myself and K-9 Ben,” Tabak said of the early days.
Selecting, training and maintaining a K-9 dog is expensive. Diesel was bred in the Czech Republic and shipped to Canada before joining the Cuyahoga Falls police. “You’re talking thousands and thousands of dollars, sometimes, for these dogs that are bred specifically for police work,” Tabak said. Those dogs come with a guarantee. If for some reason the dog is unable to perform, “We get another dog.” Other sources of dogs don’t necessarily have such a guarantee.
Finding the right dog for the job can take a lot of legwork. Tabak got Kilo from a breeder in Indiana. Kilo and Diesel are both German shepherds, the most popular breed for police work in part because they have a reputation of bravery and trainability.
“I get a lot of people who tell me, ‘Well, I’ve got a police dog,’ and what they mean is they have a German shepherd,” Tabak said. “And really, it’s like a professional sports player. There’s a lot of people who play sports in high school, and some in college, but not many become a professional football player. It’s the same with police dogs.”
“Not every single dog has what it takes. They could be great dogs, great pets ... but not every dog can combine the abilities required to pass the police dog course.”
“These dogs have to make apprehensions under gunfire,” so a dog that’s frightened by loud noises couldn’t do the job. “They have to meet a ton of different criteria,” Taback said.
“We want dogs that can go out and catch a burglar, and then the next day we can bring in a group” of kids for a demonstration. “The temperament we look for: They can turn it on when we need them to, and turn it back off when we’re doing talks and stuff with the kids.”
“Dual-purpose” dogs are trained to detect narcotics or explosives as one aspect, and they’re trained in patrol work duties such as handler protection, article search (clothing or other items to track the human scent of a suspect), building search and criminal apprehension.
Dogs can be trained for a single purpose, such as drug detection, but, Tabak said, “You get the most bang for your buck if you get a dog that can do multiple tasks.”
The dogs are eager to please.
“To them it’s just a big game of hide and seek. The training we do with these dogs, it’s all positive reinforcement,” Tabak said.
The training course takes nine weeks, a 360-hour minimum. Narcotics training is four weeks, 160-hour minimum. “If you’re putting together a dual-purpose dog you’re looking at 13, 14 weeks of full-time training,” Tabak said.
Diesel is still in training. He’s certified in drug detection and article detection, but he’s still being trained in some aspects of patrol work, such as tracking and building search. He’ll be ready by summer, when warm weather tends to see an increase in criminal activity.
They’re required to have 16 hours of training a month to maintain certification. Training days don’t give K-9s the rest of the day off, unlike some jobs. “Today we had a training day,” Tabak said. “We’re still available. We actually did two school searches this morning, and ended up with one arrest.
“Ohio is one of the states that actually requires that the K-9s be certified. They’re actually certified through the same agency that certifies police officers, the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission,” Tabak said.
The dogs are re-evaluated and certified every two years to assure that the dogs are able to continue police work.
For the handler and dog, the relationship is close. Tabak raised Gino, a retired K-9 dog that was euthanized last fall, from a puppy. “Sometimes you don’t know, but I started working with him as a puppy and he ended up being an awesome, awesome dog.
“When (we) had to put him down, man, it was rough. They get like family.”
To help sustain the K-9 unit, the police department has set up an account dedicated to K-9, and Tabak said plans are in the works to sell T-shirts promoting the K-9 unit. Any money generated through fundraisers or donations will go to the dogs. “A lot of people love dogs. And people want to help the unit out but they want to make sure that the money is actually going to the dogs.” With the dedicated account, donors can be sure their money does just that.
Local merchants help out with discounts for dog food, veterinary care and grooming. Young’s Screenprinting and Embroidery is producing the T-shirts at a deep discount, which will allow the police to sell T-shirts for $10 and still generate some funds out of that. “I didn’t want to try to sell people T-shirts for $20,” Tabak said.
The Moose Lodge on State Road and Rockin’ on the River are among the community-based organizations lending their support to the K-9 unit. “PetSmart has been sponsoring it for years,” Tabak said. “I have a really good relationship with them.”
Camp Bow Wow is another friend of the unit. “The people there are nice; they’ve allowed us to bring our dogs down (to bathe), because they get really filthy on a search, climbing under cars – not like a normal pet would.”
The Falls K-9 unit works with other police departments, including Akron, Tabak said. “We’ve done tons of searches in Akron, they’ve come over and helped us out. We help each other out, especially on those big school searches. You need multiple dogs, because you want to get in and get out.”