BLM Ranger K-9 Team Participate in National Police Canine Association Seminar in Wyoming

Eight Bureau of Land Management Ranger K-9 teams from Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wyoming joined local, state, and federal K-9 teams for an annual training seminar hosted by the National Police Canine Association in Jackson Hole, Wyo., May 6-10, 2019.

More than 55 K-9 teams attended the seminar. Most were from police departments and sheriff’s offices in Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado. The U.S. Forest Service also participated representing the federal government alongside the BLM teams.

According to the NPCA website, they are a non-profit association dedicated to the training, development, and certification of law enforcement canine teams and their administrations.

Deborah Sullivan, the BLM State Chief Ranger for Wyoming, attended the training and was impressed with the camaraderie, team work, and demonstrated skill levels of the BLM K-9 teams.

“The patrol tactics, narcotics detection, tracking, and obedience demonstrated by our BLM K-9 teams were outstanding,” said Sullivan. “I cannot stress enough how impressive our folks were!”

BLM law enforcement K-9 units are required to retrain annually in order to certify for each specialty they work in. This seminar offered training and recertification in law enforcement K-9 specialties including patrol tactics, tracking, and detecting narcotics and explosives.