K-9 UNIT

At the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office, like many other law enforcement agencies in the world, K-9 Units are an essential tool in the fight against crime. A canine’s superior sense of smell allows them to not only detect miniscule odors undetectable by their human law enforcement counterparts, but to distinguish these odors from an array of distracting and/or more powerful odors. Their keen eyesight, used in the wild to detect prey, supplements this sense of smell to make them unmatched locating tools. Canines are not only intelligent and trainable, but they adapt well to new and changing situations. The K-9 is trained in many areas and is used in the following ways:

- Provide support to patrol units
- Track fleeing subjects
- Support on high-risk arrests
- Search for narcotics
- Search for missing people
- Search facilities more efficient, faster and safer
- Deter crime and keep order
- Provide higher level of deputy safety
- Reduce resistance during apprehension
- Assisting in the control of crowds or riots
- Public relations (K9 demonstrations)