Hunter makes EPS history

On July 4th, 2018, Staff Sergeant Tom Bechthold and his two year old partner, Hunter, successfully completed the validation test to become Edmonton Police Service’s first Human Remains Detection Dog team (HRDD).

 
HRDD Hunter

Although this qualification is not new to the policing world, it has recently become common practice to provide HRDDs to assist in major cases. After receiving multiple requests, the EPS wanted to be able to provide this service to Edmontonians. In response, Hunter was purchased for the explicit purpose of human detection.

“The training was very similar to how we train our dogs to detect drugs or explosives,” explains S/Sgt. Bechthold, “It involves first teaching them how to search, and then introducing new odours one at a time and getting the dog imprinted on each odour.”

Finally after months of hard work from both team members, Hunter has grown into his ears and will be dedicated to solving difficult cases and bringing closure to families. HRDD Hunter will assist our Missing Persons Unit and Homicide Section when a case requires this specialty.

At this time, the Canine Unit would like to have another Human Remains Detection Dog in its ranks, but Hunter will be the sole HRDD for now. The Canine Unit has general police service dogs (PSDs) and a number of them are imprinted for explosives and/or drug detection as well.

 
          HRDD Hunter in training                     HRDD Hunter's Canine Card             

from Media Releases https://ift.tt/2zOEoSm