K9 and VPD officer showing their stuff at June 10 event held in the Harbor by the Herman Bennett Foundation to raise funds for our K9 officers.
by the VPD
On Friday, August 18a, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., the Ventura Police Department (VPD) will hold the 6th Annual “Bark Out Loud” Comedy Night benefiting the department’s K9 Unit. The event takes place at the historic Olivas Adobe.
The evening begins with a cocktail hour from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., dinner will be served at 7:00 p.m. and the comedy show will begin at 8:00 p.m. Comedy will be provided by the Ventura Comedy Club.
K9 Teams will be on site conducting demonstrations throughout the evening and also roaming the crowd so individuals can meet the officers and their partners. The evening’s festivities also include a silent auction and raffle.
Tickets are $60 and are available for purchase at: www.venturapdk9.com/bark-out-loud-events/.
On average the cost for a canine is $12,000, with an additional $8,000-$10,000 for training and certification, all of which is paid for through donations to the VPD K9 Unit. All of Ventura Police canines, past and present, have been purchased through community donations and event fundraising. The K9 Unit appreciates the support of the community and the many businesses and organizations that have sponsored the crime fighting team!
The Ventura Police Department currently has three K9 teams and two K9s in the canine academy. K9s are assigned to the Patrol Unit so that a team is on-duty seven days a week, providing around the clock service to the community. We have used K9 teams for over twenty years. Our agency was one of the first law enforcement agencies in Ventura County to use canines. All of our canines are German Shepherds and they live at home with their handler/officer and their families.
Our department, along with other law enforcement agencies from Santa Barbara and Ventura County, train weekly with Dave Inglis, one of the foremost K9 trainers in the United States. Weekly training sessions typically cover such skills as searching, apprehension, drug detection, obedience, agility, and confined searches.
K9 teams are used for a variety of public safety assignments. The two most frequent uses are to locate fleeing suspects and to find illegal drugs. Canines can search an entire warehouse, for example, in much less time than a team of officers could perform the same job. Canines can sniff out hidden suspects thereby making them more effective in this situation than their human counterparts. Using K9 teams allows us to perform a variety of dangerous tasks in a quick and safe manner.
