Students at Highlands School got a lesson in the job duties of a police officer last week.
There was no emergency on the school grounds, it wasn’t career day, and the police officer wasn’t even human.
K-9 officers Hope and Xena stole the show as they displayed their talents for the eighth grade class on the school soccer field. The dogs worked through a series of demonstrations that showed just how powerful a tool having a four-legged partner can be for officers Kevin Breedlove and Kyle Kinsland.
“These dogs are with us all the time, from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep, so they are like part of our family,” Breedlove said. “They are not only amazing animals as pets, but they are incredibly well trained to perform the police tasks that we ask them to do.”
Breedlove showed the class how good Xena’s nose is by setting out three plastic containers on the soccer field. One of the containers had previously held a small amount of narcotics.
Xena pointed out the proper container with ease and was rewarded with her favorite toy.
“Xena is trained and certified to smell drugs and throughout her training we put in countless hours working to make sure she was ready to work in the field,” Breedlove said. “We always want the dog to enjoy what they are doing, so that is why she gets her toy if she makes a correct notification.”
Breedlove then showed the class how Xena can track a missing person by sending officer Tim Broughton into the woods behind the school to hide while the dog was out of sight.
K-9 officer Hope took the field and completed a property search by finding a faculty member’s car keys that were dropped in the grass prior to Hope’s arrival. She then completed the coup de grace demonstration as she chased down and latched on to Broughton, who was fitted with a protective dog bite sleeve.
“When we let the dog go, she is going to get ahold of the first part of a suspect that she can, an arm, a leg, whatever she reaches first,” Kinsland said. “And she isn’t going to let go until we command her to stop.”
