Beacon Sept 2023

Page 6A THE BEACON September 2023
Community Law Enforcement Officers Include K9 Partners
Dearborn County Deputy
Jefferson and Rambo.
Continued from page 1A
dual-purpose dog, to aid in
the detection of illegal drugs
and tracking. While rare,
Deputy Cochran was able to
bring Glock with him when
he transferred to the Dearborn
County Sheriff’s Department
in 2019.
The Dearborn County
Sheriff’s Department recently
added two more K-9 dogs to
their police force. The dogs
arrived from Europe and
are “green,” meaning they
haven’t been trained yet.
Major McBroom and Deputy
Josh Cochran will train the
dogs and the handlers.
Officer Jason Turner has
worked with the Aurora Police
Department since 2018.
When the K-9 handler for the
Aurora Police Department
left, Officer Turner expressed
interest in becoming a K-9
handler. In 2020, he began
working with Ozzy, who is
also a dual-purpose dog that
searches for illegal drugs,
human tracking, and criminal
apprehension. Like Glock,
Ozzy was imported from the
Netherlands. Officer Turner
and Ozzy also assist with the
Ohio County Sheriff’s Department,
Rising Sun Police Department,
state police, or any
agency that needs assistance.
Officer Greg Cannon has
been a full-time member of
the Lawrenceburg Police
Department since 2019. In
January 2020, Officer Cannon
became the third handler
to work with K-9 Siri,
an eight-year-old Belgian
Malinois. Siri is a native of
Lawrenceburg, where she has
been a valued member of the
Lawrenceburg Police Department
for approximately five
years. Officer Troy Cochran
also serves with the Lawrenceburg
Police Department
and is a handler for K-9 Kilo,
an eight-year-old Belgian Malinois
that was imported from
the Netherlands.
Both police officers and
K-9 dogs must complete an
intense training program
prior to working together.
Deputy Josh Cochran attended
a six-week training
course at the Shallow Creek
Kennels in Sharpsville, PA
before working with Glock
in 2013. In 2017, he attended
the world-renowned Randy
Hare School of Dog Trainers
in Rhode Island which began
Deputy Cochran’s career as a
K-9 trainer and dog handler.
Officer Turner completed the
six-week Vohne Liche Kennel
Training handler’s course in
Peru, Ind. Major McBroom
attended a training course in
Georgia prior to working with
Raiko. Major McBroom also
serves as a contractor for the
Dearborn County Deputy
Sheriff Jackson and Chief.
company where Raiko was
purchased and has assisted the
U.S. military.
Jacob Jump is a master K-9
trainer with the Lawrenceburg
Police Department. He trained
Officer Cannon to become a
handler and also leads a group
of police K-9 handlers from
southeastern Indiana, that
meet once or twice a month
for continuous education. K-9
handlers average 16 hours a
month of training.
During a track, K-9 dogs
are instrumental in tracking
evidence that may be discarded,
such as a weapon or illegal
substance. When evidence
is located, the K-9 dog will
alert his or her handler to the
evidence. During the handlers
training course, the officer
learns how the dog will alert
when evidence is located.
While K-9 dogs are trained to
apprehend, they will bite and
hold the arm of the person
they are tracking until they are
given a command to release,
to help protect everyone that
is involved in the situation.
This is why you should never
attempt to pet a K-9 dog.
While Raiko has aided the
police in many situations,
one story that stood out to
Major McBroom was when
Raiko helped locate a missing
child. A 3-year-old boy was
last seen playing in a sand
pit located next to a tractor
and near a pond. Raiko was
brought in to help track the
missing child. She went to
the tractor and detected the
boy’s odor and then trailed
over to the barn. A 4-wheeler
was backed into one corner
of the large barn and Raiko
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Officer Turner and Ozzy, Aurora, with one of Snow
White’s dwarfs strategically placed throughout the city.
Lawrenceburg Officer Greg
Cannon and Siri.
Lawrenceburg Officer Troy
Cochran and Kilo.
tracked the boy’s scent to the
4-wheeler where the boy was
safely found, crouched behind
the rear tires.
Early in Deputy Josh Cochran’s
career as a new K-9
handler, he and Glock were
called to a scene where a suspect
wearing camouflage and
armed with a weapon threatened
two people in their home
before fleeing into the woods.
K-9 Glock began tracking the
suspect and located his trail.
Glock caught the suspect’s
scent in the wind (what’s
referred to as a proximity
alert) and located the suspect
about 40 yards away, hiding
in a creek bed. Had Glock not
alerted the police, there could
have been an ambush, but
luckily the suspect peacefully
surrendered.
Officer Turner recalls a time
when he and Ozzy were asked
to help with an article search.
An intoxicated driver crashed
a car into a retaining wall.
When the driver was located
and taken into custody, he
didn’t have the car keys and
claimed he wasn’t driving the
car. Ozzy and Officer Turner
conducted an article search
where the man was detained,
approximately one-quarter of
a mile away from the vehicle,
where the keys were located.
The driver tossed the keys
in hopes they wouldn’t be
found so he could avoid being
charged with a crime.
Officers Troy Cochran and
Cannon along with K-9s Siri
and Kilo participate in the
annual OnPoint K-9 Competition
held in Bowling Green,
Kentucky. At the 2022 competition,
Siri placed third in
narcotics and first in a detection
scramble, a timed event
to see which dog can locate
narcotics the fastest. Kilo has
also won awards at the annual
competition.
K-9 dogs enjoy visiting
daycares, schools, and nursing
homes throughout Dearborn
County. Annual K-9 demos
are held locally in Aurora,
Greendale, and Lawrenceburg
to educate the public on the
abilities of police dogs.
K-9 dogs are part of the
family and reside with his/her
handler. When not working,
the police dog needs to have
time off, just like a human being,
even though they want to
continue working.
The next time you see a
K-9 dog, I hope you’ll have
a deeper appreciation for the
work that a police dog and
his/her handler perform. We
are fortunate to have so many
dedicated members of law enforcement
in our community
to help serve and protect.