Interview Police Officer

Interview
Ralph Fuellbier (head trainer)

History of officer: 20 years in police department, 12 in canine. 48 years old wife four kids. Trainer for 10 years. Patrol and bomb dog handler.



1) Where do you get the dogs from?

The dogs are obtained through a vender who travels to Europe two or three times a month and mostly deals with breeders in Slovakia, Hungary, and Germany.

2) What kind of dogs do you use? Why?

German Shepherds because very trainable and the body type is ideal for this line of work and our environment.

3) What are you looking for in a dog when you go to pick them out?

First we look at their confirmation and health. We look for their specific drives. A drive is the dog’s reaction to outside stimuli. They look for dogs with high prey drive. It means they want to hunt their prey. They also look for a fair amount of defensive drive. Which means the dog will protect itself and the handler. The dog will fight if he or the handler is threatened.

4) What type of commands do you use? Why?

We use German commands because of the sound/inflection of the words and how the dogs react to them. As an example, to track we use the German word “such” (zoo-chuh)

5) How long do you train a dog for?

The initial training is seventeen weeks. This consists of obedience, agility, tracking, building searches, evidence search, area searches, and handler protections (or bite work). After the initial patrol training we prefer that the dog spend at least 6 months on the street to acuminate. Then they back go back in specialty training class. Explosives, drug, or cadaver: this additional last from 8-12 weeks. After their initial train maintence training is on going for at least 8 hours per week.
6) What type of techniques do you use when training them?

In general we use operant or instrumental conditioning. Which is were the dog is presented with a stimulus and rewarded for a trained response. An example would be the dog is given the auditory stimulus of the word sit and physical stimulus of being pushed down and pulled up by the lead into a sit position. Immediately there after the dog is presented with a reward or toy/praise.

7) How are the officers selected?

The officers need to have a minimum of 5 years street experience and have a good a resume being active on patrol with little sick time. The officers then must complete a physical fitness test and oral interview with the commanding officers.

8) Do you have any specialty training with them? How long is that training?
9) What the purpose of the obstacle course?

The obstacle course gets the dog ready for obstacles that he may find in real street work (hopping fences), but trained in a controlled environment.
10) Is there a certain way, in which the dog is supposed to bite?

Yes, the dog is taught to bite with a full mouth and grasp either an arm or leg. They are taught to hold on and not release the bite until commanded. The reason for this is to prevent undo injury to the perpetrator or to allow him to escape.

11) What is the function of these dogs?

The canine is a tool for the patrol officer or detective division to use for a variety of reasons. Whether it is to apprehend criminals, find missing persons, recover proceeds or lost articles, find drugs, search for explosives or recover remains of victims or discover a crime scene.

12) How do they respond when they find explosives and drugs?

When the dogs find explosives they are taught to give a passive indication (sit response) because trigger off the device. If a dog finds drugs a cadaver they are taught to dig at the source.

13) How long does a dog work for?

About 8 years this depends on the health and physical abilities of the dog. Some dog can work up to 11 years of age and some dogs have only worked up to 9 years of age.

14) What happens to the dog when they retire?

The dog is then given to the officer where it then lives at home with the officers family. The officer must sign a hold harmless release which absolves the police department of responsibility if the dog bites or injures someone.

15) How do you become a trainer?
I had to apprentice under the prior trainer and attend various seminars and certification courses sponsored by various state agencies.
16) How are the dogs certified?

The dogs are certified through the Suffolk County Police Department and through New York State division of criminal justice services. (BMP) Bureau of Municipal Police. This certification is done at the end of the basic training or specialty training and the dogs are reevaluated yearly for specialty training and once every 3 years for patrol training.

17) How are the dogs with the officer’s family?
18) Have any dogs been injured? Do they recover?

Yes, we have had some dogs killed (shot), some stabbed and injured during apprehensions, but generally those are rare occasions and the dogs tend to make full recoveries.
19) What is the average amount of apprehensions/ drug finds?

The Unit as a hole averages 250 apprehensions per years with numerous evidences recovery and approximately 1-2 million in drug proceeds per year.