Yesterday we had over 30 members attend our club’s scheduled event, a Police K9 Demonstration. We want to thank Phil Simpson for coordinating this with the Surprise Police Department. We were greeted in the parking area and informed that the dogs for this demonstration would be off leash and for that reason they asked us to stay behind the chain link fence at all times. The K9 Unit had brought 2 dogs along with their handlers, the department Sergeant, and a live test dummy. No offense intended to the test dummy as he was one brave soul. He not only encouraged the dogs once they attacked him but he only had a covering around one arm and not a full body suit as you would expect at a minimum.
After a brief demonstration from the first dog showing how the dogs are used to subdue a criminal and other tasks, the dog actually bit his own tongue drawing blood while being in his attack mode and had to be put back in the car for his own safety as he still wanted to be part of the action. Luckily it was a minor cut and he was OK. The second dog was then put through some obedience trials, attacks, and he also showed us how he can search for and find hidden suspects. He was very impressive and did a great job. All during the demonstration the Surprise Police Officers allowed us to ask any and all questions which they promptly answered. Overall it was an opportunity for our members to get a great insight into the working of the Surprise Police Department K9 Unit. They are an extremely impressive unit as well as being a deterrent to crime as you wouldn’t want to have them send one of these dogs in to extract you.
There are a total of 4 dogs in the Surprise K9 Unit and each one has completed years of basic training, and unique and specialized training. Among the things that they are trained to do is they have the ability to detect numerous drugs and explosives along with the ability to search out and find suspects that decided not to surrender to the Police Department peacefully.
Following the demonstration all members went over to Tivoli Gardens and enjoyed a nice relaxing dinner with a great group of friends. The numerous tabletop conversations in the room were non stop and only quieted down somewhat once the food was served. We want to thank Phil Simpson once again for putting this together and for all the club members that attended as without you all, we wouldn’t be able to do any of this. Hope you all had a great time….
Thanks,
Jim