K9s with the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office are highly trained, but how do they become such useful assets?
“Their job description is being lovable, being cute for the public, but when it gets down to the nitty gritty, they're out there every day, assisting our deputies,” said Sheriff James Potter, with the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office.
K9s are trained to find the objects people leave behind and find the people they’re looking for.
“I'm going to start the sniff counterclockwise. I start every sniff the exact same way. Typically, I only do two passes on a vehicle. So, we'll go ahead and get it, and I give her the command to find it,” said Corporal Christian Friend, who is partnered with K9 Kita.
Friend said K9 Kita is crucial in getting the job done.
“She has a total of 706 deployments over that span of six years. She's responsible for just shy of 300 arrests. She's apprehended 4.67 kilos of marijuana, about 2 pounds of methamphetamine and a large quantity of cocaine as well,” said Friend.
Friend said they go all the way to Orlando to get the K9 and make training stops along the way.
“Then we initially go to Sarasota for a 200-hour block of training, where we train, do basic obedience and narcotics detection along with tracking. From there we go certify,” said Friend.
Friend says every month, they still train for 16 hours. Even though these dogs are assets, they still find time to relax.
“When she goes home, she's not a working dog anymore, she's part of the family. So, she has to decompress, just like I have to decompress. When she gets home, it's her time. Just as it is my time. She fits in, she's with the family, she gets along with everybody great,” said Friend.
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