K9 Training deserves a round of a-paws
WCPD Officer Lehman and K9 Unit, Chad, train hard with other area K9 teams
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For Webster City Police Department K9 Officer Michael Lehman, ongoing training is a given. He and his K9 Chad, train for a minimum of 16 hours per month to keep their certification and skills up to snuff.
Earlier this month, the Webster City Police Department had the opportunity to host a K9 training session with teams from several area agencies. Officers took part in multiple exercises to keep officers and K9 dogs ready for any sort of situation that may occur in the line of duty.
Throughout the training, units practiced evidence tracking, building searches, and mock traffic stops, among other real-world scenarios. With use of Kendall Young Park, K9 dogs used scent-detection methods to locate cell phones hidden throughout the area for search and rescue efforts.
Participating officers then headed to the fairgrounds to conduct multiple building searches practicing accuracy in search coordination and alerting. Mock traffic stop simulations were conducted to train police dogs and prepare officers for high-risk scenarios, and tactical coordination; getting the dogs used to certain commands and procedures needed to ensure safety and proper protocol.
Officer Lehman and K9 Chad organized and led this training session. Many other K9 units in north central Iowa participated in this specialized training session. The police department worked with the city Parks and Recreation Department to use Kendall Young Park for training, Hamilton County Fairgrounds for use of the buildings, Karl Chevrolet for providing vehicles for mock traffic stops and Hy-Vee for providing lunch for all participants.