San Diego PD Going to the Dogs – And That’s a Good Thing
By Rick Rogers
Special to Homeland Magazine
Sgt. Casey Gini and his partner Iron don’t track down drug dealers or bust burglars.
It’s not what they do.
But throw in a violent felon or someone attempting suicide by cop and now you’re talking. And due to a host of reasons – including Post Traumatic Stress among veterans — business for Gini and Iron is brisk and growing.
So much so the San Diego Police Department’s K-9 unit – with the backing of San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman — is enjoying a renaissance not seen since the early 1990s when it fielded one of the nation’s larger dog units after a report suggested it could reduce deadly force cases.
Some 25 years later, the San Diego Police Department is again turning to dog power.
“People are challenging the police every day with a gun, knife or bottle in their hands,” said Lt. Duane Voss. “But when the dog shows up, they give up. Some times just hearing the dogs barking in the cars is enough to make them surrender.”
“Even when people are waving weapons and screaming they want to be killed by the police, they would rather be shot than bit by a dog,” Voss said. “The dogs are saving lives of the public every day, while keeping officers safe and saving the city from liability.”
Voss runs 31 dogs and handlers out of a small compound next to a police firing range off Route 94. Within the next year or so the unit will expand to 42 dogs and handlers. The unit peaked at 53 back in the 1990s.
The police dogs – usually male Belgian Malinois instead of German Shepherds because they hold up better – are purchased by the San Diego Police Foundation and, because they’re raised in places like Germany and Slovakia, are commanded in their native tongue.
Even within the police dogs ranks there is sub-specialization. Turns out the animals are divided by expertise: explosives, drugs or articles. The first two categories are self-explanatory. “Articles” refers to items used to commit a crime, such as a knife or a gun.
Some dogs are proficient across categories and it can take much training for a handler to recognize whether his dog has just located drugs or explosives.
This learning curve isn’t holding anyone back. Appointment to the K-9 unit is a dream job with 10 officers routinely applying for every opening.
The reason is simple: The dogs go where the action is.
Canine units take the most dangerous calls, the kind that would otherwise put officers in harms way, such as searching canyons for fugitives, reconnoitering buildings for bombs or confronting the violently unhinged.
All this makes the work varied and interesting. Officers can’t sign up fast enough.
“I get the best of the best cops here,” Voss said. “People come here and they never want to leave.”
It’s an exciting job. It’s also a hard job – physically and mentally demanding. Success lies in understanding your partner inside and out, who in this case weighs 60 pounds and has a brain the size of a walnut.
And just because an officer excelled as a street cop doesn’t mean they’ll be any good on the end of a leash when the chance comes.
Gini, a Navy veteran, patrol officer and former SWAT member, began positioning himself to join the K-9 unit eight years ago. He made it last September.
“It’s been phenomenal. Everything I always thought it would be,” Gini said about working with Iron, an energetic two-year-old Belgian Malinois.
And busy. In the four months ending in January, San Diego K-9 units were involved in:
* 6,400 radio calls, 306 searches, 74 interventions and 16 street bites
“People are more confrontational with police officers than they used to be,” Gini said. “Mental illness is greater. Our suicide calls have tripled, and I am increasingly seeing veterans with Post Traumatic Stress.”
Added Voss: “Patrol officers ask for our dogs if they believe, even remotely, that they are going to need them. They recognize the asset we have here. The sooner we can get the dog to the call, the better the chance to resolve a potentially violent situation.”
The relationship between a dog and its handler is unique in all of law enforcement and in some ways eclipses the vaunted bond between human partners.
For one thing, handlers like Gini take their partners home and are responsible for their care and maintenance every day whether in uniform or not.
It’s a huge commitment to a valuable asset – the dogs cost $11,000 to $13,000 each – that stretches well beyond a 40-hour-a-week job.
“I spend more time with Iron than I do my wife,” Gini quips.
Handlers must know their dog’s personalities and how they’ll react in tense situations. Then they must train them to obey commands instantly, even if they run counter to their natures, like stopping mid-run to take down a suspect.
“It’s a very hard thing to teach,” Gini said, who teaches Iron this by sending him first after one object only to call him off and send him for another.
A testament to this training, said Voss, is that of the thousands of “street bites” recorded by the San Diego police since 1984, “very few” have resulted in civil suits.
As Gini works with Iron, Voss watches. Pistol shots from range next door sting the air.
“I like to say that a police dog is the only force option that can be called back,” Voss said. “You can’t bring a bullet back once it’s fired. But we can send a dog to disarm a suspect and if that suspect drops the weapon, we can call off the dog before it bites. It’s amazing.”
Special thanks to San Diego Narcotic Task Force Airport Group
Detective Mike Aiken and K9 “Reilly”
SDPD K9 Officer Reilly served the citizens of San Diego from 2005 until his retirement in January 2015. During his 9-year career, Reilly assisted law enforcement officers with hundreds of drug investigations resulting in the seizure of over 1,300 pounds of narcotics (meth, cocaine, heroin and marijuana) as well as several million dollars in cash drug proceeds. Reilly also regularly performed K9 presentations and personally interacted with over 30,000 area school children during annual National Red Ribbon events and other community events.
Reilly passed away on 01/29/15
