Elk Grove Police K-9 Association |
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Quite a team: K-9 unit helps keep Elk Grove safe
Partnership is a winning one
By Loretta Kalb - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PST Thursday, November 16, 2006
Story appeared in ELK GROVE LAGUNA section, Page G6 See Video
Elk Grove Police Officer Brian Schopf gives Zantos a hug after the dog detects hidden narcotics.
Sacramento Bee/Michael A. Jones
Zantos, muscles tensed, is ready to spring. He stares up at his master, eager for the slightest
command. "Sitzen," said his master, his voice barely above a whisper. The Belgian Malinois responded,
sitting. Another command and the dog's belly instantly hugged the pavement, his eyes skyward, awaiting
the next directive.
This is the Elk Grove K-9 unit's dance of partnership, one that is repeated around the clock by the seven
K-9 teams in the new Elk Grove Police Department. Towering over 7-year-old Zantos was Elk Grove
Police Officer Brian Schopf , the 6-foot-2-inch, two-legged half of the department's K-9 Team 6. Wherever
Schopf goes, so goes Zantos. Often, when the pair are on a call, Zantos stays in the car, showing off his
bark when passers-by walk near.
He'll join Schopf on foot, typically, when a search is needed for a suspect or for drugs. His bark is hoarse
-- more seal than canine -- and a little grating. But Schopf said he doesn't mind. "To me, it doesn't matter
how loud or boisterous it is," Schopf said. "When he's in a building, it's enough to hear. Though it sounds
loud like a seal, I don't care. It makes him unique."
Schopf and Zantos were sworn in as one of the newest K-9 units in the Elk Grove Police Department last
spring. In May, along with the other new K-9 units, the two underwent intensive training. The units already
are winners, taking two first-place awards in the novice and vehicle search-narcotics categories among
41 teams in the Western States Police Canine Association trials earlier this month.
The benefits the K-9 units provide to the community and the department are immeasurable, said Timothy
Albright, K-9 unit supervisor.
Since July 1, K-9 units were involved in "well in excess of 75 arrests," Albright said. But, he said, there's
no way to be sure how many injuries are avoided or lives saved by using the units. Typically, a dog is
used to apprehend a suspect after an officer has been attacked. The dogs are trained to use only
enough force to subdue and hold a suspect. Often, with a dog on the scene, events don't deteriorate to
that extent, Albright said. "Their mere presence is a deterrent to crime," he said. "Any time we encounter a
suspect, the dog is let out of the car" to reinforce the handler's order to surrender.
"As far as measuring their effectiveness on those who (otherwise) would have engaged the officer in a
fight, it's difficult to tell," he said. Albright said Zantos was instrumental in some 20 narcotics finds over
the past three months -- "everything from Ecstasy and heroin to methamphetamine and cocaine. He
found all kinds of stuff. He and Brian make a good team." While department training continues weekly,
Schopf works with Zantos each day, keeping the dog focused and feeling appreciated.
In a parking lot not far from City Hall, Schopf put Zantos through his paces. He pulled two cotton balls
from glass cases. One had been exposed to cocaine, the other to heroin. He buried them -- one in dirt
and the other in a drainpipe. Then Schopf cinched a working collar onto Zantos and, leash in hand,
walked him out of the car and around the lot. He pointed, the dog sniffed. There was more pointing and
more sniffing as the two toured the parking area. As Zantos neared each cotton ball, he pounced, paws
together, his seal bark sounding, his nose over the odors.
Such exercises show the dogs' versatility, Schopf said later. "He can smell an odor and take you to the
source of that odor 100 (or more) feet away," he said. "There are all kinds of things we can do" as a K-9
team. Zantos began working with Schopf at the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department in 2004. As a
new K-9 partner, he required Schopf's dedicated and consistent training.
"When we first got Zantos, we had a family vacation planned," he said. "We changed everything around
so we had hotels that accepted dogs, and I was training with him every day." The team stayed with that
department for two years, until the Elk Grove K-9 team jobs opened. Schopf has been training dogs
since his childhood 4-H days, and he has been part of a K-9 team for the past nine years. Zantos is his
third K-9 partner.
At home, Zantos shares the household with Schopf's wife, Jennifer, and two children, 8-year-old Katie
and 9-year-old Eric, along with Schopf's retired K-9 partner, Kivito. The German shepherd, now 12, has
claimed Jennifer as his mistress, and Schopf showed a sense of satisfaction over that shift in roles.
"She spoils him," he said of his erstwhile partner.
DOG VESTS
Elk Grove K-9s will soon be styling a new uniform -- bulletproof vests for dogs. The effort to make the
K-9s safer came to the Elk Grove Police Department this week with the gift of bulletproof vests for the
dogs from Breeder's Choice Pet Foods Inc. of Irwindale. The company campaign, aptly called the
Protect-A-Hero Campaign, donates the vests to law enforcement dogs nationwide. It is funded by a share
of sales of the company's premium Active Care dry dog food.
Partnership is a winning one
By Loretta Kalb - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PST Thursday, November 16, 2006
Story appeared in ELK GROVE LAGUNA section, Page G6 See Video
Elk Grove Police Officer Brian Schopf gives Zantos a hug after the dog detects hidden narcotics.
Sacramento Bee/Michael A. Jones
Zantos, muscles tensed, is ready to spring. He stares up at his master, eager for the slightest
command. "Sitzen," said his master, his voice barely above a whisper. The Belgian Malinois responded,
sitting. Another command and the dog's belly instantly hugged the pavement, his eyes skyward, awaiting
the next directive.
This is the Elk Grove K-9 unit's dance of partnership, one that is repeated around the clock by the seven
K-9 teams in the new Elk Grove Police Department. Towering over 7-year-old Zantos was Elk Grove
Police Officer Brian Schopf , the 6-foot-2-inch, two-legged half of the department's K-9 Team 6. Wherever
Schopf goes, so goes Zantos. Often, when the pair are on a call, Zantos stays in the car, showing off his
bark when passers-by walk near.
He'll join Schopf on foot, typically, when a search is needed for a suspect or for drugs. His bark is hoarse
-- more seal than canine -- and a little grating. But Schopf said he doesn't mind. "To me, it doesn't matter
how loud or boisterous it is," Schopf said. "When he's in a building, it's enough to hear. Though it sounds
loud like a seal, I don't care. It makes him unique."
Schopf and Zantos were sworn in as one of the newest K-9 units in the Elk Grove Police Department last
spring. In May, along with the other new K-9 units, the two underwent intensive training. The units already
are winners, taking two first-place awards in the novice and vehicle search-narcotics categories among
41 teams in the Western States Police Canine Association trials earlier this month.
The benefits the K-9 units provide to the community and the department are immeasurable, said Timothy
Albright, K-9 unit supervisor.
Since July 1, K-9 units were involved in "well in excess of 75 arrests," Albright said. But, he said, there's
no way to be sure how many injuries are avoided or lives saved by using the units. Typically, a dog is
used to apprehend a suspect after an officer has been attacked. The dogs are trained to use only
enough force to subdue and hold a suspect. Often, with a dog on the scene, events don't deteriorate to
that extent, Albright said. "Their mere presence is a deterrent to crime," he said. "Any time we encounter a
suspect, the dog is let out of the car" to reinforce the handler's order to surrender.
"As far as measuring their effectiveness on those who (otherwise) would have engaged the officer in a
fight, it's difficult to tell," he said. Albright said Zantos was instrumental in some 20 narcotics finds over
the past three months -- "everything from Ecstasy and heroin to methamphetamine and cocaine. He
found all kinds of stuff. He and Brian make a good team." While department training continues weekly,
Schopf works with Zantos each day, keeping the dog focused and feeling appreciated.
In a parking lot not far from City Hall, Schopf put Zantos through his paces. He pulled two cotton balls
from glass cases. One had been exposed to cocaine, the other to heroin. He buried them -- one in dirt
and the other in a drainpipe. Then Schopf cinched a working collar onto Zantos and, leash in hand,
walked him out of the car and around the lot. He pointed, the dog sniffed. There was more pointing and
more sniffing as the two toured the parking area. As Zantos neared each cotton ball, he pounced, paws
together, his seal bark sounding, his nose over the odors.
Such exercises show the dogs' versatility, Schopf said later. "He can smell an odor and take you to the
source of that odor 100 (or more) feet away," he said. "There are all kinds of things we can do" as a K-9
team. Zantos began working with Schopf at the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department in 2004. As a
new K-9 partner, he required Schopf's dedicated and consistent training.
"When we first got Zantos, we had a family vacation planned," he said. "We changed everything around
so we had hotels that accepted dogs, and I was training with him every day." The team stayed with that
department for two years, until the Elk Grove K-9 team jobs opened. Schopf has been training dogs
since his childhood 4-H days, and he has been part of a K-9 team for the past nine years. Zantos is his
third K-9 partner.
At home, Zantos shares the household with Schopf's wife, Jennifer, and two children, 8-year-old Katie
and 9-year-old Eric, along with Schopf's retired K-9 partner, Kivito. The German shepherd, now 12, has
claimed Jennifer as his mistress, and Schopf showed a sense of satisfaction over that shift in roles.
"She spoils him," he said of his erstwhile partner.
DOG VESTS
Elk Grove K-9s will soon be styling a new uniform -- bulletproof vests for dogs. The effort to make the
K-9s safer came to the Elk Grove Police Department this week with the gift of bulletproof vests for the
dogs from Breeder's Choice Pet Foods Inc. of Irwindale. The company campaign, aptly called the
Protect-A-Hero Campaign, donates the vests to law enforcement dogs nationwide. It is funded by a share
of sales of the company's premium Active Care dry dog food.
