Featured Department: Concord Police Department

ISSUE 45 AUG/SEP 2017

$9.95

Integrating SWAT & K-9 Teams

Developing Green Police Dogs for Patrol: Pushing & Punishing Grips

K9COP

2018 2017

How Scent Preservation is Helping K-9 Teams Find Missing Persons

8TH Annual

CONFERENCE & VENDOR SHOW

Nashville Sept. 18, 19, 20 - 2018 Tennessee

Featured K-9 Department: Concord Police K-9 Association

Located only 29 miles northeast of San Francisco is Concord, California.

Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County; in 2015, the population exceeded more than 125,000 residents. Concord has been the 8th largest city in the San Francisco Bay area for over seven years now.

18 • K- 9 C O P M A G A Z I N E

Concord Police Department was formed in 1905 which then grew to allow a K-9 unit to be formed in 1965.

The K-9 division began with only three K-9 teams; however, they grew their numbers to nine. Concord Police Department decided to create a K-9 division for the department because they wanted to assist the patrol officers with their job duties as well as make their performance more efficient and safe for themselves and the community.

19

Currently Concord Police Department employees 161 officers, six are assigned to the K-9 division, with five current patrol K-9s on the street. A sixth K-9 partner will join the team by the end of this year. Concord Police Department (CPD) maintains the largest municipal law enforcement K-9 corps in the Contra Costa County, and per capita, the CPD K-9 program is one of the largest in the state of California.

Each of Concord Police Department K-9s are dual-purpose and are also trained and proficient in the tracking and trailing of suspects or lost/missing persons.

Concord believes that by maintaining the K-9 division it will assist the department in keeping the officers and citizens safer. “We are able to work more efficiently than a team of human officers and make the job safer.”

The division’s K-9s have been used to diffuse potentially violent scenes, where the K-9’s presence was enough to take control of the situation.

“We train every day we work utilizing our street partners and most days on our off time.”

They are great Department Ambassadors,

representing Concord Police Department and interacting with the public on countless occasions. Providing demonstrations and interacting with small children and families and numerous organizations have helped them build a solid relationship with the community.

Concord’s K-9 division trains one full day every week as an entire unit with the department’s trainer (who was an 18-year handler from their department, but has since retired). Officer Coniglio stated, “We train every day we work utilizing our street partners and most days on our off time.”

K-9 Officer Coniglio & K-9 Hancock Birthday – 12/13/13 Weight – 73 lbs Certificates – KNPV Country Origin – Netherlands Language Spoken – German In Service Date – March 2017 Favorite Toy – A tennis ball & Chuck-It; thrown as far as possible!

Officer Coniglio did a lateral transfer to CPD in March 2017. Officer Coniglio has been in law enforcement for over 10 years.

On June 22, 2017, officers located an occupied stolen vehicle and attempted to stop it. The vehicle fled and a pursuit was initiated. The vehicle drove directly at a CPD vehicle, nearly colliding with it. The pursuit led into the Tesoro Refinery, where it rammed a gate to gain access and came to a stop where both occupants fled from the vehicle. Suspect was located hiding in a hole in the ground in the basement of a Tesoro building. He refused to surrender to authorities; in return, K-9 Hancock was deployed and used to apprehend the suspect.

2 0 • K- 9 C O P M A G A Z I N E

K-9 Officer Davison & K-9 Bico Birthday – 4/28/2011 Weight – 70 lbs Certificates – KNPV (score 434 of 435) Country Origin – Hollandscheveld, Netherlands Language Spoken – Dutch In Service Date – June 2015 In April 2017, three armed robberies of marijuana delivery drivers occurred within one month at the same location. Once an ID was made, a Ramey Warrant was issued for his arrest.

On May 5, 2017, a marijuana dispensary called the department to report a suspicious order. The department’s SET team, violence suppression unit, major crimes detectives, K-9 team and a team of DEA agents responded to set up a decoy operation. Once in position, two male suspects quickly approached with their hands concealed in sweatshirts, possibly concealing weapons. One suspect immediately surrendered while the second fled on foot. K-9 Bico was deployed and successfully apprehended the suspect before he was able to jump a fence that led to a highly populated residential area.

K-9 Officer Riche & K-9 Julka

Birthday - 5/10/12 Weight - 55 lbs Certificates - SVV1 Country Origin - Czech Republic Language Spoken - Czech In Service Date - July 2015 Partners Since - July 2015

On April 1, 2017, a house was evacuated as a suspect ran around yielding a knife in the backyard and refused to engage with negotiators. Police became aware that 2 subjects were living in a shed in the backyard and a rescue plan was formed that included K-9 Julka. The suspect was engaged with non-lethal weapons, but they were ineffective. The suspect then hid behind the shed and stabbed himself with the knife; as officers approached, he removed the knife and raised it towards them. Another round of non-lethal force was used and caused the suspect to drop the knife. As he tried to re-arm himself, K-9 Julka was deployed and was able to knock him backwards and downhill away from the knife to the awaiting arrest team.

K-9 Officer Sansen & K-9 Bono Birthday - 10/31/12 Weight - 85 lbs Certificates – KNPV (score 410 of 440) Country Origin – Ede, Netherlands Language Spoken – Dutch In Service Date – November 2015 Favorite Toy - Whatever toy someone is holding!

On August 8, 2017, K-9 Officer Sansen and K-9 Bono responded to a felony hit-and-run collision, which was an un-reported stolen vehicle that turned into a fleeing suspect. K-9 Officer Sansen and K-9 Bono set up a perimeter after a citizen followed the suspect and watched him crawl under a postal truck.

A helicopter assisted in announcements and when he refused to come out, K-9 Bono assisted in the apprehension.

21

K-9 Officer Miovas & K-9 Faruk Birthday – 5/10/2012 Weight – 80 lbs Titles – AD- Ausdauerprufung -an endurance test performed by gaiting approximately 6-10 miles per hour for about 12 miles with a ten-minute rest halfway and a simple obedience test at the end. AD is a prerequisite for a Korung evaluation. BH- Begleithunde -a prerequisite for Schutzhund. Consists of an obedience test and a traffic/temperament test.

Country Origin – Germany Language Spoken – German In Service Date – August 2014 On October 24, 2016, Officer Miovas attempted to stop a vehicle, in which he recognized the driver as having an outstanding felony warrant. The driver then fled and led CPD and CHP on an 18-minute pursuit which ended in a crash. The driver then fled on foot and jumped the freeway sound wall. K-9 Faruk was deployed, jumped the sound wall and apprehended him in a drainage ditch. The suspect had previously been arrested for attempted murder of an officer and thanks to K-9 Faruk, no officers were injured during the apprehension.

K-9 Cpl Sweany & K-9 Figo K-9 Cpl Dave Sweany contributed 26 years of loyal service to law enforcement, and now enjoys retirement and being the department’s K-9 trainer.

He was hired in January 1989, became a K-9 handler in July 1995 and continued through December 2014. K-9 Cpl Sweany worked with the city’s SET Team (Special Enforcement Team); he also had three water apprehensions and was even featured on the TV series COPS for one in the Sacramento River. Sweany took over as the department’s trainer in 2008, and worked a total of 7 dogs in his career. Cpl Sweany can often be heard saying, “This is really livin’!”

FISCAL YEAR 2016/2017

RESPONSIBLE FOR

845 DEPLOYMENTS

PARTICIPATED IN

59 2 2 • K- 9 C O P M A G A Z I N E

PUBLIC DEMOS

APPREHENDED

123

OF 123 –

EIGHT WERE BITTEN

SUSPECTS

LOCATED ALMOST

$10,000

WORTH OF

ILLEGAL DRUGS

K-9 DEPLOYMENTS SAVED ESTIMATED

630 MAN HOURS