Barre Town's Police K9s

Information Found in K9 Specific Tabs. To be DELETED upon Chief's Approval. Need info to add to K9 opening page.

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In 2002 the Barre Town Police Department decided to bring back their K9 Unit after several years without a police canine. Chief Dodge  (Sergeant Dodge at that time), was chosen as the Handler, and his partner, K9 Tinzer joined the police department shortly after. They attended the Basic patrol School at the Vermont Police Academy in the fall of 2003. During their training Chief Dodge and Tinzer were trained in tracking, building searches (for criminals), evidence recovery, handler protection and obedience. In addition they were trained in advanced tracking and helicopter deployment. During Tinzer’s career he was called upon to assist in over 300 cases where there was a missing person or a criminal had fled from police. His very first call was a 2 mile track of a burglary suspect which resulted in the arrest of the suspect. Unfortunately, Tinzer passed away in 2012 from medical problems.

In late 2012 K9 Huey, at the time a 9 week old German Shepherd, joined the force, and immediately began training with Chief Dodge. K9 Huey was trained exclusively by Chief Dodge, who also holds a K9 Trainer certification through the Vermont Police Academy. In 2013 Sgt. Dodge and Huey challenged the Drug Detection Certification at the Vermont Police Academy and became certified as a Narcotics Detection Team. Huey is trained to detect the odor of several different illegal narcotics, and has trained in many different environments.

In May of 2014 Chief Dodge and Huey challenged the Patrol Certification at the Vermont Police Academy and became certified as a Patrol Team. Huey is trained to help locate missing persons or criminals, search buildings for criminals hiding inside, locate evidence of a crime, and protect Chief Dodge when necessary.

As there are a limited number of police canines throughout the state, Chief Dodge and Huey make themselves available to assist other law enforcement agencies. In return, other police canine teams assist Barre Town Police when Huey isn’t available. Huey visits many schools and civic organizations, as did Tinzer, to explain the important work police canines do and show off their skills.

Feel free to contact Chief Dodge at the police department if you would a like a demonstration for your organization, or just stop by to say hello.