The Cheltenham Township Police Department sadly announce the sudden death of one of the members of our K-9 Unit. Duke, an 8 year old German Sheppard, was as much a member of this Department as his human counterparts. He was hard working, and loved his job. Most of all Duke was a loyal partner, and a loving family member. He will be missed by everyone.
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The Cheltenham Township Police K-9 Unit was first formed in 1976 with the help of Federal Grant money, the support of the Police Staff, and the support of the Community. Since the Unit's inception, the Police Department has supported the use of Police Canines to aid in the department’s crime detection and crime prevention efforts.
At present, we have four Police K-9 teams assigned to the Patrol Division, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the Township. Our K-9 teams are also available to assist other Police Departments when help is needed. Putting the best K-9 team together involves a through selection process. |
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The Officers: All of our K-9 handlers are full-time Cheltenham Police Officers. The Officers are chosen through a selection process that takes into consideration: their ability to meet the physical demands of a K9 handler’s duties, their service records and length of employment, their dependability and their proactive approach to Policing, their ability to interact with the community and maintain positive relations, and their ability to handle the additional responsibility of caring and maintaining a police K-9. Most importantly, the Officer must have a love of dogs and be willing to make a long-term commitment to the K-9 Unit. |
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The Canines:
The Cheltenham Police Department
has chosen to utilize German Sheppard dogs in our K9 Unit,
because they have historically proven themselves as effective
Police Dogs. The German Sheppard dog is distinguished because of
its loyalty, courage, and ability to absorb and retain training
to perform a number of special services. These dogs have
inherited traits that make them: even tempered, poised, and
confident. These dogs also have well developed instinctive
drives, and an ability to create a strong bond with the handler.
We look for a dog with a high play drive. This will help us in
training the dog for police work. It is these traits that
we look for, when we select a Police service dog. Traditionally,
our department relied on the public to donate dogs for Police
work. However, in the past few years we have opted to deal with
breeders who offer and guarantee dogs with the traits and
physical attributes necessary for Police work. Our dogs also
must pass through medical screening to ensure that they are fit
for duty.
On October 15, 2005, Cheltenham Eagle Scout James Salanik Jr. presented the Cheltenham Police Canine Unit with a permanent Memorial to honor and remember all current and former K-9 Teams that have served the Police Department, since the Unit's inception in 1976.
Mr. Salanik created the design for the Memorial, and he raised all funds to pay for his Eagle Scout project. The Memorial pictured above, is on display outside of the Township Building. |
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The Training: Each dog and K-9 Officer is known as a “team” and each relies on the other to successfully complete their duty assignment. A trained Police K9 team is a very useful tool in law enforcement. Each of our K-9 teams, partake in some of the most intense training in Police work. Presently, all of our K-9 teams are trained for Police work at the Philadelphia Police K-9 Training Unit. The training period for basic “Patrol” training is a minimum of 14 weeks (560 hours). The dogs are trained in obedience, agility, building searches, field searches, tracking, article searches, and criminal apprehension. The training is focused on developing the dog’s natural abilities to play and hunt, and then teaching the dog to use those abilities to perform specifics tasks for police work. In addition to the basic Patrol training, all of our current K-9 teams are crossed trained as special detector dogs. Three of our K-9 teams are crossed trained in narcotics detection, and one K-9 is cross- trained in explosive detection. Crossing training is a 10-week training program. |
If you have any questions, concerns, or would like to request a public K-9 demonstration, please contact the K-9 Unit Supervisor, Sgt. John Slavin at johnslavin@cheltenham-township.org, or call 215 885-1600 ext. 482.
