Police Officer's Guide to K9 Searches Paperback – January 1, 2009

Pretty shallow writer

I had taken multiple classes with the author, the late Doctor Stephen Mackenzie, and he required this book for one of my classes with him. He has taught so many students and has had so much experience in the field that there was not enough time to tell them all! On behalf of all his students at SUNY Cobleskill, his writings and teachings have impacted us and the way we look at dogs for the rest of our lives.

This book is fairly basic. It appears to be intended for all police officers, not K9 handlers. It gives a good, basic overview of each type of search work K9s do. It would be very helpful to K9 handlers if all police read this. It would help other officers understand the abilities and liimits of each type of K9. It also would help police understand how to handle the scene before the K9 officer gets there, and which type of K9 they need for that situation. So, highly recommended for this use, if you can get people to read it.That said, this is not a training manual and is of little or no use to K9 officers, depending on their experience.The author knows his stuff VERY well. For K9 officers I highly, highly recommend his Decoys And Aggression book.

The author is a well-respected individual who has worked not only in law enforcement in the USA but is also a Professor of Animal Science.This review is very short and was written to make it clear that the book is exactly what it says on the tin ie a reference/teaching tool designed for non-dog handlers in the police.It briefly introduces the novice to exactly what advantages a trained dog has over any officer in certain situations and how to determine what type of dog would be most suitable.The writer explains how important it is to call for a canine trained for the specific role required; whether that be Tracking/Trailing, Area/Building Search for a missing person/miscreant, Evidence Recovery, Human Remains, Narcotics, Explosives, Accelerant, Wildlife etcI like the way that for each circumstance there is an “Aide Memoire” for the non-specialist regarding on how and when to set up perimeters, deploy support equipment/personnel and if time is a critical factor.Most importantly the repeated exhortation to “provide for the safety of the K9 team”.The last chapter consists of a quick reference listing the problem and type of dog to call for.I suspect this book is of more use to the remote one-man operation “in the sticks” but although it contains a few diagrams this book is NOT one that teaches the reader how to train a dog for any of the above tasks etc.