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Two K9s Join DWR Conservation Police
Richmond, VA — Two Virginia Conservation Police Officers and their canine partners graduated on May 10 from their nine-week training course to join the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) Conservation Police K9 Program. Senior Officer Bruce Young and K9 Blaze will be working in Henry County and Master Officer Cameron Dobyns and K9 Atlas will be assigned to Essex County.
“They all did really well. It’s a lot of work for each handler and dog,” said DWR Conservation Police Sergeant Richard Howald, who is a veteran of the DWR K9 force and leads the K9 training program. “You’re trying to train a dog to do a task. But you’re also training the handler how to train the dog to do the task. And then you’re trying to combine them to work together,” Howald noted of the training process that began in February. “It’s quite a bit of work to make all that happen. But you can see huge progression even on one day. This group progressed really well.”
The DWR K9 teams are valuable statewide assets helping to track missing persons and uncovering evidence. Their expertise has helped bring criminals to justice and reunited families. And, their talents are sought out by other law enforcement agencies across the Commonwealth.
“The K9 handlers and their dogs are a tremendous asset to the agency and support not only the mission of DWR, but the public safety mission of our partner agencies across the commonwealth; they are a true force multiplier,” said Major Ryan Shuler, deputy chief of law enforcement of the Virginia Conservation Police. “Their abilities to locate articles and evidence and track suspects and missing persons enhance our ability to protect Virginia’s wildlife resources and citizens. We’re excited to have Senior Officer Bruce Young with K9 Blaze and Master Officer Cameron Dobyns with K9 Atlas joining the DWR K9 program.”
DWR added the new K9 teams after the retirement of K9 Bailey when former CPO Jim Patrillo took another position at DWR and Howald was promoted to Sergeant, limiting his time for work in the field. The K9 program now has nine teams working statewide.