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Paris Police Dog Killed in Raid Sheds Light on K9 Line-of-Duty Deaths; K9-TECC White Paper Calls for Standardized Guidelines for Treating Injured Operational K9s

With the outpouring of international support for the police dog “Diesel,” who was recently killed during a police raid in Paris, much attention has been focused on the invaluable role and care of Operational K9s (OpK9s) that are injured in the Line of Duty. OpK9s include police canines, military working dogs, force protection K9s, and Search and Rescue (SAR) canines. These working animals have continuously proven to be a force multiplier in the success of many military, law enforcement, SAR, and humanitarian operations.

Police dog Diesel made international headlines when she was killed by a suicide bomber in Paris

Police dog, Diesel, made international headlines when she was killed by a female suicide bomber who detonated herself during a police raid in Paris. WATCH MEMORIAL VIDEO

Operational K9s are also close to the hearts of many of Mission Manager’s valued customers, who view their beloved creatures as trusted, valued partners in missions ranging from tactical SWAT operations, natural disasters, and search, rescue & recovery efforts. When a first responder loses a K9 in the Line of Duty, it can be as traumatic as losing one of their own colleagues.

According to The Officer Down Memorial Page (OPDM), there have been 26 fallen police K9s reported this year as of November 2015.  Although the list is incomplete, Line-of-Duty K9 deaths have resulted from gunfire, stabbings, fire,  heat exhaustion, poisoning, training accidents and more. Read more

To reduce the number of OpK9 Line-of-Duty deaths, one group is stepping up to the plate to help develop standardized guidelines for treating civilian OpK9s injured during high-threat situations. The non-profit K9 Tactical Emergency Casualty Care Working Group, or K9-TECC, has recently released a white paper that addresses the Challenges Facing Pre-Hospital Care for Operational K9s Injured in the Line of Duty.  (Download White Paper Here)

As noted in the white paper, “Similar to their human counterparts, working animals deployed in a tactical or high threat environment also remain at high risk for suffering preventable deaths. Despite their role in safeguarding our society’s freedoms, a large gap in pre-hospital trauma care (e.g., standardized guidelines, funding, training, logistical resources, research, etc.) for these OpK9s still remains.”

The group’s objective is to educate the Veterinary and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) communities about the main challenges that hamper appropriate and timely pre-hospital care for Operational K9s injured in the Line of Duty. In the process, the group hopes to facilitate a collaborative initiative between the two communities to ensure that OpK9s receive the best medical care possible. (Download White Paper Here).

About the K9-TECC Working Group

The K9-TECC Working group was developed under the auspice of the Committee for Tactical Emergency Casualty Care (www.c-tecc.org), which was established to speed the transition of military lessons learned from the battlefield to civilian medical response to high-risk situations.

K9-TECC focuses on interventions that eliminate the major preventable causes of death that are “affordable, sustainable, and require minimal training and resources.” Similar to human TECC guidelines (available at c-tecc.org), K9 TECC principles should be incorporated into three dynamic phases of care: Direct Threat Care (DTC)/Hot Zone, Indirect Threat Care (ITC)/Warm Zone, and Evacuation (EVAC)/ Cold Zone.

Although the goals and principles for each phase of care remain relatively the same as human TECC, modifications will be made to account for K9-related anatomical and physiological uniqueness. Since the principles are modeled after human-based Tactical Emergency Casualty Care, the group believes that first responders should be able to easily learn and apply K9-TECC guidelines into their practices.

The group uses evidence-based medicine to form the foundation of their K9 TECC principles, however, it relies heavily on end-user input and representatives from the front lines to mold their final recommendations. K9 TECC welcomes feedback on their Facebook page at  www.facebook.com/k9tecc/

 

 

Search One Rescue Team Featured in Mission Manager Hero Dog Advertisement

Mission Manager is pleased to feature the amazing Search One Rescue Team in its advertisement for the American Humane Association’s Hero Dog Awards™, scheduled Sept. 27.   Serving the Dallas / Fort Worth area, Search One’s 36 team members and their K9s have helped more than 120 agencies locate lost or missing persons mostly in urban areas. This includes missing children, elderly walk-a-ways, suicidal persons, human remains, disaster victims and more.

K9-Frankie

K9 Frankie is a valuable member of the Search One Rescue Team

Search One relies heavily on Mission Manager’s team member and asset management capabilities, combined with its calendar and communication functions, to enhance daily activities. On average, Search One has approximately three “boots-on-the-ground” missions a month with 12 to 15 team members responding to calls.

That’s why they appreciate Mission Manager’s real-time tracking capability, according to Jess Romero, Director of Search Managers, Search One Rescue Team. Romero says it makes the job of a search manager so much easier. Mission Manager allows teams to track their progress in the field in real-time. “That was the first feature that we took advantage of,” he said.

For more information, see Search One’s Case Study and Mission Manager’s full-page Hero Dog advertisement.

Mission Manager Plays a Critical Role for the N.J. Ramapo Rescue Dog Association

When Dave Hubbell joined the Ramapo Rescue Dog Association three years ago, he discovered that its first responders relied on a pen and paper at Basecamp to manage their K9 search and rescue missions. A quick Google search led him to Mission Manager – the software tool that would forever change the way they would do business. Mission Manager gave the New Jersey-based organization the tools they needed to fulfill their mission – to locate missing persons and save lives – efficiently and effectively.

“We love Mission Manager. It plays a huge role in helping us manage our equipment, plan our training sessions and organize our mobilizations,”said Hubbell, a retired corporate pilot who serves as the group’s Mission Manager Administrator and radio operator. Hubbell also utilizes Mission Manager for NJ DSTAR ham operators group and as a trial for the Sparta Township Community Emergency Response Team.

Hubbell is among 25 volunteers with the Ramapo Rescue Dog Association, which utilizes air-scenting German Shepherds to help locate missing individuals in wilderness and disaster situations. A handful of its volunteers and their canines were on-hand at the national NASAR conference, June 4-6, in New Jersey to showcase their organization and attend various educational and training sessions.

“Being a volunteer combines several loves – working with your best friend who’s devoted to you and also having the opportunity to serve the community. We all have a great passion for what we do,” said Penny Sullivan, the group’s operational leader who was among the founding members.

The association, established in 1971, is a member of the National Association of Search and Rescue, and the Search and Rescue Council of New Jersey. Since then, the association has conducted numerous searches throughout the Eastern and Central United States, including finding missing persons in wilderness and urban areas, crime scene evidence recovery, and large scale disasters such as Ground Zero.

“With the proliferation of GPS apps on cell phones, we have fewer and fewer missing persons cases these days, so unfortunately, many of our missions involve locating human remains,” said Sullivan. “It is extremely rewarding, in either case, when we do find a missing person –thanks to the help of our K9 friends.”

It is not easy – or cheap – becoming certified as a Search and Rescue K9 team, she noted. Both the dog and handler must complete two years of intensive training and pay for their own expenses, including gas and equipment. The training consists of first responder medical training; K9 medical training; and map, compass and GPS navigation training. The area of training is in wilderness, urban and water rescue, both live and cadaver.

The association’s operational teams and other volunteers continue training twice monthly to keep their skills sharp. As with the actual deployments, the volunteers rely on Mission Manager to organize their training sessions. The software helps them develop the mock scenarios, including checking-in and checking-out personnel, creating subject profiles, setting up task assignments and mapping out the search areas.

In fact, Hubbell says the most frequent uses of Mission Manager are the forms, maps and tasking capabilities. “We certainly put it to good use for our searches – particularly the mapping functions, which are critical when operating in rugged wilderness terrains,” he said. “Along these lines, I would like to commend the developer, Mike Baily. The product is excellent and can only get better.”

For more information about the Ramapo Rescue Dog Association, see www.ramaporescuedog.org