May 1, 2007 — A suspect lurks inside a dark warehouse, hiding in between shadows and stacks of boxes in an attempt to evade police. Suddenly, the door to the building bursts open, and an officer, tightly gripping a large German shepherd, begins canvassing the surroundings.
The officer shouts out a standard preliminary warning, giving the suspect an opportunity to voluntarily surrender himself. When there is no response, the canine is unleashed, and the suspect's cover is blown in less than three minutes.
This scenario — which was staged during a demonstration Tuesday at Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas — has become a common real-life practice in train stations, boat yards and other locations all over the world, as more federal and local agencies are establishing K-9 units in an attempt to bolster criminal, gun and drug apprehension efforts.
In the Caribbean, Customs officials from the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos have also joined this movement, partnering a few of their officers with skilled, hard-working canines, which are trained on St. Thomas by K-9's on Patrol Services (KOPS) owner Paris Nicholson IV.
"What we do is buy the dogs when they are about seven or eight months old, train them, sell them to law enforcement agencies and then train the handlers," Nicholson explained after Tuesday's demonstration. "Most of the training is done here, but about two times a month, we're in the other islands training the officers. Continuing the training is very important — if it’s not maintained, then the dog will slack off."
According to Nicholson, KOPS' canines are trained in such things as bomb detection, firearms and ammunition detection, police patrol and narcotics.
"Some are also trained to listen for gunfire, so if they hear a gunshot, they will go in that direction," he said. "They can even pick up the scent of gun oil, and can be used in building and article searches. You see, the dogs' noses are so acute that they are able to separate odors. So, there are not really many ways to defeat a properly trained dog."
The handlers, such as Roberto Harrigan, a Customs officer with the BVI's K-9 unit, are also trained to interact and bond with their new partners, spending time walking, feeding and working with them on a daily basis.
"We train about five to six hours every day, working out of warehouses, in boats, shipyards, all over the place," Harrigan explained, adding that his canine partner — affectionately called Officer Atos — has been trained in passive, rather than aggressive, narcotics detection.
"Some dogs, when they find what they're after, are aggressive, which means they're more active, and do things like bite and scratch. My dog is passive, which means he is trained to sit when he finds something," Harrigan said. "He is also trained to only take commands from me, and he knows that every time he finds something, he is rewarded with his towel."
Finding ways to reward, or motivate, the canine is a key step in the training process, Nicholson added.
"We test and train a variety of dogs," he explained. "And what we really look for is the canine's drive — or how much he is willing to work and search in order to get his reward. If you're playing fetch with a dog, for example, and you throw the ball 100 times, when you see a dog continues to go after the ball, even though it's tired, then you know you have a dog with the potential to be trained."
While Nicholson does not encourage the use of food as a reward, he said KOPS' canines are quite responsive to toys, or towels, which they like to bite or tug.
The agency's most recent training sessions have been conducted on St. Thomas over the past three weeks, culminating on Tuesday with a press conference and two demonstrations designed to show off the dogs' skills, and the bond that each canine has with its handler.
Each dog will be going to the K-9 units set up within Customs agencies in the BVI and Turks and Caicos Islands, Nicholson said.
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