Job prerequisites: Strong legs and a curious nose

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La Vista Sun

By Jennifer Meyer

New paraphernalia added to the La Vista Police Department over the last year has booted up by several notches an already professional presence in the community.

A spiffy motorcycle and black and white cruiser and state-of-the-art laptop computers in addition to radar equipment and video cameras have added powerhouse proficiency and efficiency to the always-difficult job of nailing the nefarious.

But though computer-chip competency and hefty horsepower have keen-edged policing duty, none of these match the chivalrous soul and true-blue courage of Leda, the department's new police service dog.

The Belgian Malinois (pronounced mal-an-wah) has teamed up with Officer John York to form the department's K9 unit, replacing Officer John Danderand and Cosmo, a German Shepherd who retired the end of June following a seven-year stint.

Leda had to undergo a complex selection process and nine 40-hour weeks of training with York before she could officially join the force.


Four officers, York, Danderand, La Vista Sgt. Jeremy Kinsey and Omaha police Sgt. Matt Lippold, traveled to Vohne Liche Kennels in Denver, Ind., in May to select the department's new dog.

They assessed approximately 25 dogs there, mostly Belgian Malinois, German Shepherd and Dutch Shepherd breeds, using eight or nine tests, York said.

"Some of the dogs were ruled out after one or two tests," he said. "Others looked strong until the final test. On occasion, a particular dog would look extremely good until the gunfire test, which is an absolute must for our purposes."

Lippold, an experienced handler and trainer, largely supervised the selection process and he and Danderand served as agitators and evaluators during the testing.

"There are a multitude of character traits and drives we evaluate," York said. "The tests are focused on identifying play drive, retrieve drive, fight drive and hardiness and trainability traits just to name a few. Courage is genetically based, it cannot be trained and is heavily evaluated during this process.

"Of utmost importance is the dog's desire to provide officer protection, an area in which Leda displayed great potential from day one."

York found invaluable the opportunity to see first hand how the various dogs reacted to him.

"Issues such as physical stature and voice tone make a difference in the handler/dog relationship," he said. "For us, the breed wasn't nearly as important as the specific traits and drives needed for police canine work. I knew Leda was a good match for me almost immediately. She was quite impressive and we got a chance to play a little bit before we made our final decision. She took to me very well."

Leda is two-years-old and was imported from the Netherlands - she even has a passport.

The Malinois, a fawn-colored dog with a black mask, is a short-coated variety of the Belgian Shepherd Dog and is used increasingly in K9 units across the country.

"Although a Belgian Malinois tends to be smaller and more slender than the German Shepard, many possess the speed and raw intensity that we look for," York said.

After returning from Indiana, Leda and York headed for the Omaha Police Department to hone skills and bond as a team.

"We trained 40 hours per week at various locations throughout the metro area," York said. "It's important to change training locations often so the dogs don't get conditioned to a specific environment. We want to present them with as many new scenarios as possible and be cognizant of changing the variables."

Four other teams joined them, three from the Omaha Police Department and one from the Douglas County Corrections Department. York and Leda arrived as the only green team, he said, the others comprising either a new handler and experienced dog, or an experienced handler and a new dog.

The chance to see models of accomplished handlers and dogs facilitated his training, York said.

Instruction included canine psychology, first-aid, handler skills and basic canine training techniques.

"As time progressed, we began to add all this to the mix of becoming a police officer again, learning how to incorporate this new furry, slobbering, four-legged 'tool' into our bag of investigative options," York said.

Leda came with some preliminary exposure to marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine searching.

"We knew she had the nose for the job," he said, "but she still needed a lot of work and I needed to learn how to interpret her behavior and how she communicated with me."

York found problem-solving during different training scenarios to be the most challenging skill to develop. "Finding the right combination of motivation, technique and reward could be perplexing at times," he said.

Though somewhat seasoned in pet obedience instruction and occasional drills with the K9 unit at the Papillion Police Department where he worked as a former lieutenant, this specialized training was mostly new to York.

"I knew early in my policing career I wanted to be a K9 handler," he said. "The world of canine policing adds an even deeper dimension to the role of being a cop. It is truly fascinating what some of these dogs are capable of."

York also learned a new vocabulary as Leda responds to only Dutch and German commands.

Leda and York have been on the job for a month now, with several calls and a challenging arrest under his belt and her collar.

"On one particular traffic stop, she indicated the odor of narcotics was present inside the passenger compartment of a vehicle," York said. "As it turned out, varying amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana were each discovered inside with a couple of diversionary tactics attempted and the vehicle of the driver was arrested."

He enjoys watching Leda develop her skills with continued exposure to new situations.

"Her introduction to automatic sprinklers was probably the most humorous," he said. "Luckily we were not on a call and she was able to re-establish her composure quickly."