Highway Patrol Canine Unit Disbanded

 

North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety Secretary Bryan Beatty and Colonel Walter J. Wilson, Jr., Commander of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol today announced the department has completed the review of the State Highway Patrol's policies, procedures and protocols for the canine unit. The current canine program has been dissolved and preparations to rebuild the unit are now underway.

 Secretary Beatty ordered the review earlier this year.

“The Highway Patrol's canine program has proven to be effective in interdicting drug trafficking on our highways and that important work needs to continue, said Beatty.” I ordered the review of our Highway Patrol Canine Unit to identify areas which needed improvement and draw upon best practices of other statewide law enforcement agencies.”

The Highway Patrol has begun implementing the following changes to the canine program:

• Discontinue use of aggressive canines and change the mission from multi-tasked canines to canines trained only in narcotics detection.
  
• Selected a new canine training supervisor who has successfully completed the United States Customs and Border Protection Instructor Canine Training Class.
  
• Use passive alert canines as the Highway Patrol's police work dog; more specifically Labrador Retrievers. Labradors by nature are non-aggressive canines and have a well respected reputation as excellent narcotics detection canines.
  
• The new program will be staffed with newly selected and trained canine handlers.
  
• The new Highway Patrol Canine Policy expressly prohibits any mistreatment of canines.
  
• The Highway Patrol will adopt the United States Customs and Border Protection Canine Program curriculum and training techniques to train and certify all Highway Patrol canine handlers.

“We are in the process of restructuring and rebuilding our canine program,” said Patrol Commander Col. Walter J. Wilson, Jr. “I'm confident that once these changes are implemented we will have one of the best canine programs in the nation.”