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K9 Units in Public Transportation: A Guide for Decision Makers (2002)

Chapter: Appendix H - NJ State Performance Standards

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix H - NJ State Performance Standards." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2002. K9 Units in Public Transportation: A Guide for Decision Makers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24721.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix H - NJ State Performance Standards." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2002. K9 Units in Public Transportation: A Guide for Decision Makers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24721.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix H - NJ State Performance Standards." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2002. K9 Units in Public Transportation: A Guide for Decision Makers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24721.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix H - NJ State Performance Standards." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2002. K9 Units in Public Transportation: A Guide for Decision Makers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24721.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix H - NJ State Performance Standards." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2002. K9 Units in Public Transportation: A Guide for Decision Makers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24721.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix H - NJ State Performance Standards." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2002. K9 Units in Public Transportation: A Guide for Decision Makers. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/24721.
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105 APPENDIX H: NJ STATE PERFORMANCE STANDARDS11 Goal: The police officer handler and police dog will demonstrate proper operational skill in law enforcement related work and techniques. Description: Police K-9 training encompasses police dog obedience, agility, scent work, criminal apprehension and handler protection, and socialization. Police handler training encompasses report writing, record keeping, issues dealing with policy and procedure, legal issues, field procedures and proper care and handling of the police dog. 1. POLICE OFFICER HANDLER TRAINING 1.1 THE ROLE AND USE OF THE POLICE DOG Goal: The police officer handler will be knowledgeable about the use of the police dog in law enforcement in the present and the past. 1.1.1 The police officer handler will demonstrate familiarity with the historical use of canines in law enforcement. 1.1.2 The police officer handler will demonstrate knowledge concerning the current uses of police dogs and dogs in law enforcement in general. 1.2 TECHNIQUES AND FIELD PROCEDURES Goal: The police officer handler will be familiar with the commands, skills and procedures used for K-9 training and operations. 1.2.1 The police officer handler will identify the basic obedience commands and skills and their proper use. 1.2.2 The police officer handler will demonstrate familiarity with the major phases of obedience training (heel work, distance control and walking control) and the significance of these phases of training. 1.2.3 The police officer handler will identify procedures and commands used in police dog socialization. 1.2.4 The police officer handler will identify the five types of scent work (article searches; searches involving boxes, tents or other similar objects; field, wood, or marsh searches; building searches; and searches involving tracking). 11 Source: New Jersey Law Enforcement website www.state.nj.us/lps/dcj/agguide. Reproduced in its entirety as an example of Performance Measures expression for the K9 unit.

106 1.2.5 The police officer handler will demonstrate familiarity with the procedures and commands to be used for various types of scent work and searches utilizing a police dog. 1.2.6 The police officer handler will demonstrate familiarity with the procedures and commands used during agility exercises. 1.2.7 The police officer handler will demonstrate knowledge of the major phases of criminal apprehension training, including false start, recall, straight apprehension, standing crowd, moving or running crowd. 1.2.8 The police officer handler will demonstrate knowledge of the procedures and commands to be used before and during criminal apprehensions utilizing a police dog. 1.2.9 The police officer handler will demonstrate knowledge of the major phases of handler protection training. 1.2.10 The police officer handler will demonstrate knowledge of the procedures and commands used during handler protection with a police dog. 1.2.11 The police officer handler will identify acceptable indication signs or signals given by the police dog. 1.3 POLICY, PROCEDURES, AND LEGAL ISSUES Goal: The police officer handler will be familiar with legal issues and concerns involving the use of a police dog, in particular, the use of a police dog as a force option as well as issues dealing with policy and procedure and the need for clear policy regarding the use of a police dog. 1.3.1 The police officer handler will list sanctions a law enforcement officer may face as a result of the improper use of a police dog, including departmental liability, criminal liability, and civil liability. 1.3.2 The police officer handler will demonstrate knowledge of when it is proper to use a police dog, including identifying the conditions that must be met before using a police dog to conduct searches and criminal apprehensions. 1.3.3 The police officer handler will demonstrate knowledge of the proper use of the police dog as a force option. 1.3.4 The police officer handler will identify the significance and purpose of K-9 policy and procedure. 1.3.5 The police officer handler will identify the general types of information to be included in a departmental K-9 policy, including: the circumstances or conditions under

107 which K-9 teams may and may not be utilized; the deployment and use of K-9 teams and services; the role and responsibilities of the police officer handler, supervisory personnel and other officers; reporting requirements and record keeping; the training, qualification and re-evaluation of K-9 teams; and the care, handling and maintenance of police dogs. 1.3.6 The police officer handler will demonstrate familiarity with agency policy and procedures pertaining to the use of police dogs. 1.4 REPORT WRITING Goal: The police officer handler trainee will have the knowledge to properly complete a police report for any given situation requiring the use of a police dog. 1.4.1 The police officer handler will list the qualities of a good police report for situations which required the use of a police dog. 1.4.2 The police officer handler will list the types of information to be included in an incident report, offense report or use of force report dealing with the use of a police dog. 1.4.3 The police officer handler will be familiar with individual agency requirements for reports and records pertaining to operations or activities involving police dogs. 1.5 RECORD KEEPING Goal: The police officer handler will be familiar with all record keeping requirements and informational needs concerning K-9 operations. 1.5.1 The police officer handler will identify the types of records that should be kept regarding the use of police dogs, including training records, incident reports and health reports. 1.5.2 The police officer handler will identify the information items to be included in records or reports which pertain to K-9 operations or activities. 1.6 THE CARE AND HANDLING OF THE POLICE DOG Goal: The police officer handler will have the knowledge necessary to properly care for and handle the police dog under routine conditions and emergency care situations. 1.6.1 The police officer handler will demonstrate knowledge of the methods and procedures for selecting, evaluating and preparing police dogs for training. 1.6.2 The police officer handler will demonstrate familiarity with K-9 equipment and the proper use of that equipment.

108 1.6.3 The police officer handler will list the requirements of proper routine care of a police dog, to include daily health check inspections, routine health care and veterinarian visits, feeding, grooming, and housing. 1.6.4 The police officer handler will identify the proper techniques, procedures and equipment to be used in the emergency care situations, including heat stroke, bloating, trauma, and poisoning. 2. POLICE OFFICER HANDLER - POLICE DOG TEAM TRAINING 2.1 OBEDIENCE Goal: The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability to obey basic and advanced obedience commands. 2.1.1 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler (using verbal commands or hand signals) will demonstrate the ability to respond to basic commands: sit, down, stand, stay, heel and come. 2.1.2 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability to walk in a heel position, both on lead and off lead, at a slow, fast and normal pace while completing left, right and about turns (heel work). 2.1.3 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability to respond to distance control commands, including the following voice commands and hand signals: sit, down, stand, stay and come. 2.1.4 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability to respond to a heel or come command, either a voice command or hand signal, stopping the dog with a sit, down or stand command. 2.1.5 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability to take and hold a position until the handler returns and orders the dog to heel. 2.1.6 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability to maintain a position as the handler moves away, returns to and passes by the dog (walking control). 2.1.7 The police dog will demonstrate the ability, on and off lead, to move through groups of people in a non-aggressive manner, displaying a tolerance for people (socialization). 2.1.8 The police dog will demonstrate the ability, on and off lead, to remain in a stay position (stand, sit, or down) while people pass by (socialization).

109 2.1.9 The police dog will demonstrate the ability to properly respond to obedience commands, from the police officer handler, while under gunfire. 2.2 AGILITY Goal: The police dog will demonstrate agility. 2.2.1 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability to surmount or overcome a variety of different obstacles which are likely to be confronted while working. 2.3 SCENT WORK Goal: The police dog and police officer handler team will demonstrate the ability to conduct proper searches to locate a suspect, subject, or evidence within buildings, interior structures and extended, exterior areas of various terrains. 2.3.1 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate, both on lead and off lead at the discretion of the handler, the ability to properly search, find, and indicate or retrieve a variety of articles with a human scent (such as clothing, a gun, a wallet, or a screwdriver) within a specified area, including buildings and interior structures and extended, exterior areas of various terrains. 2.3.2 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability, both on lead and off lead at the discretion of the handler, to properly search, find and indicate a suspect or subject within a specified area. Such searches are to include: building or dwelling search; box search, tent search or a search involving other similar objects; and field, marsh or wood search. 2.3.3 The police officer handler will demonstrate the ability to recognize the alert signs given by the police dog. 2.3.4 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability to track (follow) a human scent. 2.3.5 The police officer handler will demonstrate the ability to control the police dog during searches. 2.4 CRIMINAL APPREHENSION Goal: The police dog will demonstrate the ability to apprehend a suspect and return to the handler on command. 2.4.1 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability to physically apprehend (bite and hold) the suspect until the suspect is taken into custody (and a release command is issued) under the following circumstances:

110 no crowd; through a standing crowd; and through a moving crowd. 2.4.2 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler or after a gunshot is fired, will demonstrate the ability to physically apprehend the suspect until the suspect is taken into custody (and a release command is issued). 2.4.3 The police dog, after physically apprehending the suspect, will demonstrate the ability to release the suspect on command from the police officer handler. 2.4.4 The police dog will demonstrate the ability to terminate pursuit prior to physical apprehension when verbally recalled by the officer handler from a reasonable distance (minimum of 10 yards) under the following circumstances: no crowd; through a standing crowd; and through a moving crowd. 2.4.5 The police dog will demonstrate tolerance to gunfire while performing criminal apprehension exercises. 2.4.6 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability to remain in a finish position when a suspect begins to flee (false start). 2.5 HANDLER PROTECTION Goal: The police dog will demonstrate the ability to protect the handler when necessary. 2.5.1 The police dog, on command from the police officer handler, will demonstrate the ability to remain in a guard position while the police officer handler searches or questions a suspect. 2.5.2 When the safety of the police officer handler is threatened, the police dog (without command) will demonstrate the ability to physically apprehend a suspect until the suspect is taken into custody (and a release command is issued). 2.5.3 When the suspect attempts to escape, the police dog (without command) will demonstrate the ability to physically apprehend the suspect until the suspect is taken into custody (and a release command is issued). 2.5.4 The police dog will demonstrate the ability to terminate pursuit of a suspect attempting to escape prior to physically apprehending the suspect when verbally recalled by the officer handler.

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