Police dogs: Man’s best friend also makes for great cop
February 6th, 2009 | by admin |
Police dogs: Man’s best friend also makes for great cop
Officer Josh Buhmann and “K-9 Joey” are a dual-purpose team.
Joey is a four-year-old male German shepherd. He’s been with the Evanston police department for two and one-half years, and Buhmann is Joey’s handler.
Buhmann grew up in Riverton and graduated in Laramie. He joined the Army at the age of 17 as a military policeman. After his military service, he hired on with the Evanston Police Department and has worked here for the past five years.
When a position for a dog handler came open with the EPD, Buhmann applied with a letter of interest. The EPD interviews potential candidates and does checks to determine who is best suited to fill the position. Once Buhmann was selected for the handler position, it took about a year before he actually had a dog.
Buhmann said they got Joey from Rose Cox, who runs a kennel in Herriman, Utah.
She runs her own dog program for personal dogs as well as police dogs and contracts out dogs. She is also certified through Utah Peace Officers Standards as a handler, instructor adjunct, instructor judge and a teaching judge.
Cox is certified through Utah Peace Officers Standards and Training as an explosives, narcotics and adjunct instructor/judge.
“Joey was about a year old when we got him. He is trained in dual purpose. Joey and I went through the certification process for dog training and dog handling. Joey is trained in tracking, finding evidence, narcotics, apprehending people, building searches, free air searches, tactical indication and SWAT training,“ Buhmann said.