May 6 , 2021 The Beacon • 13
West Lafayette ’ s new K-9 team is ready to work
By Marianne Austin
The West Lafayette Police Department recently added a furry member to the force . Police Chief Matthew Fohl said Stryder , a Belgian Malinois , had his state testing on April 16 with handler officer Laurice Mans , and he has been in actual service since then .
That day was set aside for nothing but testing to see if he could do what the state expects him to do . There are standards that the state expects , and he got through it with flying colors . Their exact words were “ he knocked it out of the park .”
“ He did great on his certifications ,” Fohl said . “ He will need to be recertified every year . It ’ s a refresher so he doesn ’ t get rusty , and he will be learning new things as the years go along . So far we are letting them relax because they went through a very intense six weeks of training . We ’ re just letting the dog get acclimated to his new environment and his new team .
“ There are two reasons : number one because officer Mans and Stryder need time to create a bond and learn to work well together , and number two , ( Stryder ) is not a machine , so he can be a dog and relax a little bit . There will be a solid
Submitted
West Lafayette police officer Laurice Mans and K-9 Stryder completed training on April 16 .
year before they are comfortable as a team . Then we can look at tactical training .”
Fohl said they still have a little bit of work to do to Mans ’ vehicle and will reach out to Sheriff Crawford to train with the county K-9 officers .
“ The sheriff ’ s office has two dogs , and we have one ,” Fohl said . “ I want to discuss schedules with the sheriff so that we can always have a dog available . We want to work with the sheriff ’ s office to make things run the best that we can . Stryder is trained as a dual-purpose dog , and that means he does patrol work and narcotics . Patrol work also includes bite work because he has trained to bite and to track .
“ He does have the ability to track in buildings and out in the open — all over . He can track articles , so if they throw something out , he can track it . Suppose they throw something into an open area , he can track it and bring it back to us . He can also do article searches . He can go back to an area and search and find articles that can be used for evidence .”
Mans said the first time he grabbed Stryder ’ s leash , he growled at him .
“ I have gotten over my fear of being bitten by being bitten . I have been bitten three times ,” Mans said . “ It ’ s been really interesting having a canine . My wife and family have been very supportive . I felt very blessed when he told me he was giving the dog to me . He ’ s like the Terminator with fur . He can find a suspect who is involved in a violent crime or wanted for something and find missing children and adults . He is good for finding things for us that we can ’ t find like our taser , body camera , knife , gun . He ’ s like a Swiss army knife with a heart . He ’ s very intense , very high drive . When he gets out of that car , he knows it ’ s time to go to work .
“ I ’ m blessed to have him as a dog . He has a better nose than us , and he can see and smell things that we can ’ t see . If someone has something that
they don ’ t want us to know about , we can ’ t smell it , but he can . No one wants to get bit by a dog . If we can ’ t subdue them , they can hear the dog barking , so they know we have a dog . Just knowing that will induce them to take another route . If they have drugs to sell , they will go somewhere else . We don ’ t have to wait for another county or another dog . We have a dog right here .”
The training was an eyeopener .
“ It was very intense ; it was very knowledgeable . I loved it ,” Mans said . “ My trainer was very passionate about what he does . He cares a lot , and I ’ m the same way . He doesn ’ t like to repeat himself . Fortunately , I am a visual learner . Being a K-9 officer , you aren ’ t going to be involved in just the dayto-day routine . In training they pick up the stress level by making you learn how to multitask . They taught me things I could do that I didn ’ t know I was capable of .
“ The training in Canton was three minutes from my home , and they are very good at what they do . If your training is good and your equipment is good , that means that
See K-9 Page 15
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