UISD Police Department Hosts 1st Annual K9 Competition
Written by admin, May 26, 2015, Comments Off
Courtesy Veronica Cantu,
The United ISD Police Department hosted the inaugural “K-9” Team Competition on May 20that the Laredo Coliseum. A total of 32 local and out of town law enforcement canine (K-9) teams were competing to be “top dog” in the areas of accurate, timed searches for narcotics.
Each K-9 team searched an area that contained between 50 to 75 articles for three minutes.
Some articles contain two types of drugs, marijuana and cocaine. The handlers would call an alert if the canine indicated drugs present in a particular article.
Teams were judged based on a points-scoring system: Marijuana was worth 50 points and cocaine was worth 100 points.
The canine handlers had to strive to accumulate points as they tried to beat the clock. If an alert was called on an article and narcotics were not present, the team would lose 500 points. If a tie in points occurred then the fastest time for the first alert called would break the tie.
The winning K-9 team was U.S. Border Patrol (Laredo Sector) Agent Felipe Sanchez and K9 Prada.
UISD’s K-9 Officer Penny Longoria narrated the 3-hour long competition. Students from the Alexander and United South High School’s Criminal Justice Clubs observed the Law enforcement teams and partook in Question/Answer portion with all participating agencies.
The UISD K-9 Unit is dedicated to the safety and security of the school district through proactive programs and the regular inspection of all district property. “Thank you to all the Law Enforcement Team’s who participated and agencies in attendance, for your continued support to the students of UISD, said Chief of Police Clemente Camarillo.” He added, “Thank you to
our Sponsors, Daniel Lopez, Jr. of Laredo Coliseum and Danny Guerra of La Raza 95.7 Radio Station for their promotion and hospitality.
