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Sunday, May 15, 2016

OCPD’s Newest K-9 Team Graduates from Training

OCEAN CITY, MD – : The Ocean City Police Department’s newest K-9 team recently graduated from a six-week training program at Shallow Creek Kennels training facility in Sharpsville, PA. Pfc. Sean McHugh and his K-9 partner “Rocco” are now certified by the North American Police Work Dog Association as a patrol and drug detection police K-9 team. The two join a group of four additional K-9 patrol teams, which are an integral part of the Ocean City Police Department.

Rocco, a 17-month-old German Shepherd, came to the OCPD from Poland, where he received his initial training. In Pennsylvania, Rocco and Pfc. McHugh received additional training in patrol techniques, article and area searches and drug detection.

“This unit has played a vital role in the OCPD for decades,” said Chief Ross Buzzuro. “The handlers and their K-9’s on our K-9 Unit are some of the most highly trained officers in the department and I have no doubt that Pfc. McHugh and Rocco will make an excellent addition to the team.”

On patrol, Pfc. McHugh and Rocco will respond to calls for service, and are often among the first specialized units to be called to a scene. In addition to their duties and responsibilities on the road, K-9 teams often participate in community events and often render assistance to allied law enforcement agencies in the area.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poland? Really? Poland operates some of the largest puppy mills in the world. For whatever reason PD's think it's some kind of honor to import a dog from a lot of eastern European countries. This is not good and I've noticed most of these dogs don't live very long and have all kinds of health and mental problems. PD's need to be more responsible. You go to the breeder. You see the facility. You meet the dogs parents. You do not import a dog! The irresponsibility PD's show with this is disturbing to put it mildly.

Anonymous said...

You go Rocco, and you too PFC McHugh! I don't think we, as a country, have barred immigrants from Poland. Welcome to the USA and the Eastern Shore Rocco

Anonymous said...

You live in a fantasy world

Anonymous said...

People on here get upset because mayor hires a non local agency to brand salisbury but are ok with spend thousands of dollar for a dog from poland, really?

Anonymous said...

Trained to sniff out pot and give false alerts.

Anonymous said...

I've read some article about these imported K9's and it's not good. So many have turned on not only their handlers but family members of the handlers. So many have genetic problems. I have noticed that none of Ocean City's K9's live very long.

Anonymous said...

Why not go to a licensed breeder and lay eyes on the facility and the parents of the dogs, meet the trainers, observe the training before making a purchase?

You hire licensed contractors to build your house, don't you? Ride on a bus driven by a licensed, insured driver? Yes. The danged hardware store you go to is licensed, and so is the grocery store you get your food from.

Law Enforcement will make sure we all abide by all laws, yet they will buy a "Pig in a poke" from unlicensed, unregulated foreign countries?

A guaranteed way to get ripped off!

Anonymous said...

What articles. Citation would help us.

Anonymous said...

746 how is this particular breeder bad? I want to know as a tax payer! If you don't give informative answers to your readers then your just making assumptions based on your own fantasy... Again, how is this particular breeder unregulated and examples of this breeder having bad canines? Thank you.

dogg said...

I think that some of you need to better educate yourselves on K9s and their programs. The dime store articles you are reading only want to stir the pot. Both the Officer and the K9 go through a tough and rigorous selection process then off to schools and training which are themselves extremely hard and taxing. This training takes many, many years and the dedication which is shown by the officers and their partner is lifelong. How many of you would consistently put you complete safety in the hands of another person day after day.

Those of you who wish to trash the officers and canines in the K9 programs with statements about puppy mills and faulty breeding are only showing the ignorance you have towards the K9 program. It is people like you that complain about something then want to turn around and demand to be protected by the very thing you berate. I am no where near a cop, but I damn well will not complain about Rocco and his new friends keeping me safe.

Anonymous said...

I too have read about the Polish puppy mills and how LE agencies are paying big money for these dogs. It's all over the European media and has been for years now. Anyone interested can start by looking at the UK's Daily Mail where I am fairly certain I've read stories about it. It's not just Poland but other Eastern European countries (mostly formerly part of the Soviet Union) that are doing this. I would be interested in knowing the name of the breeder/facility this dog came from in Poland and to see if it's been featured in any of the stories.

Anonymous said...

10:17 honey, I've forgotten more about dogs/K9's then you and any K9 handler/trainer/vendor/etc could hope to ever know.

I will start by saying PD's have this false notion that European bred dogs are bred for working lines whereas the US for show lines. True to some extend but not always esp in countries like Poland where the main concern is money. PD's are obsessed with the "SV" standards which are more strict then the AKC. SV stands for a German phrase which basically means German Shepherd standards. It's been around for over a hundred years and the founder based the rating on not the show quality of the dog but the working quality. The SV reps come around and look at the pups and certify the pups with a tattoo.
Sounds perfect and in a perfect world it would be but you still have the problem of unscrupulous breeders who do anything to get the pups certified. There have been cases where DNA tests have been done on SV certified pups and the results have shown the ancestry to be not what it had been represented on paper to be.
The best practice is to meet the breeder. This is not debatable and is the only responsible thing to do.

Anonymous said...

151. How are you expert because you say so? What about this particular breeder do you know about?

Anonymous said...

152 your soooo wrong.

Anonymous said...

10:19
Isn't that the truth! My dog will sit next to the door as well before he gets in.