Tracking

When responding to a scene in which the K9 is utilized for locating a subject, the Handler will report to the commanding officer on scene and get a briefing of the situation. The steps you need to take as the handler are as followed: - Establish the situation - The severity of crimes if a criminal search is being conducted - The risks to the K-9 involved (armed status, environmental considerations such as broken glass, or hazardous substances/CBRN)

Once you establish that it is safe to operate, the handler will attempt to locate an item of clothing belonging to the subject or victim that will allow a scent to be determined and subsequently tracked. Once the dog has gotten a scent, the handler will inform officers on scene over radio, that the dog is commencing search.

At all times during an open area search, you MUST maintain visual contact with your K-9 partner to the best of your abilities and recall the K-9 if it gets too far away. In a restricted area search (such as a building, city area, or heavily populated area), the dog MUST be on a leash and you need to control the K-9 partner at all times.

The utilization of K-9 assets for search purposes in game will require coordination with the civilian on scene. This will entirely depend on the circumstances of the search.

Tracking considerations to be taken into account:

A scent trail cannot be tracked across water. If a suspect crosses water, the trail will go cold temporarily and you must attempt to reacquire the trail on the opposite bank to continue the search (this means you can directly cross the water or go all the way around the water and attempt to relocate it on the other side, pick and choose your battle (I.E. murder in the first, cross over, foot pursuit from a traffic stop, go around)).

Strong scents, or locations of strong scent can and will NOT throw a dog off a trail if they are tracking you. This is to be considered, especially when tracking through areas of high traffic. These dogs are specifically trained to smell so the only time they can lose someone is if they obstruct the smell such as entering a car, making sharp and rapid turns or "ditching" the current scent the suspect may have.

The suspect may choose to give little, or a great deal of information. Utilize this to the best of your ability, but as with evidence provided on any scene, this is down to the civilian.

Distance of tracking is to be considered, your K-9 will need to rest and cannot track for hours on end.

The age of a trail will factor heavily into its ability to be tracked. A fresh trail will provide the dog a strong opportunity to track, however, a trial several days old, may prove fruitless.