The 29 K-9 teams practice sniffing out drugs, searching for suspects
ALPENA, MI -- It’s a situation no one wants to have to deal with -- a gunman in at a school.
But being ready could save lives.
We take a look at how the Michigan State Police is preparing.
The 29 Michigan State Police K-9 Units from across the state are in Alpena this week doing several different types of training exercises.
One thing they're doing is simulating a school shooting, and they're using an old, closed-down school as the site.
"Surrender now! Or a police dog will be released to find you," barked on officer before he let his K-9 begin the search.
“You come to a normal building search not thinking much about it, so we want to see how the handler and also the dogs respond to gunfire," explained Joe Labelle of the training the officers go through.
A 911 call could turn deadly in a minute, and in this scenario, three gunmen are causing havoc in a school. A K-9 team has been dispatched. After a thorough building search and two suspects down, the third is sniffed out by the dog.
"This is something we're able to sharpen our skills and prepare us when we, when the teams go back to their home posts, they're sharper and they're more prepared," explained Acting K-9 Unit Commander David Yount.
This training is about as real as it gets. Officers are also put into an active-shooting situation. It's loud and catastrophic, but they know what they need to do, and that's put and end to the gunman's terror.
"School shooting, these things are happening way more frequently than what we want to see, and we need to be prepared for it," said Labelle.
"You also need to know what your dogs going to do when you find a gram or kilo,” explained Traverse City handler Tpr. Kris Mikowski.
The dogs are also tested to sniff out drugs and bombs.
"You have to expose your dogs to the things you need to work through, and you can't do it on scene at a live call, you need to do everything you can to prepare that dog, prepare him to succeed," said Alpena handler Tpr. Jamie Bullis.
The officers say the dogs leave more skilled and better prepared.
