The country boys are all grown up and working in the big city. The bloodhound puppies you’ve been following for the last nine months have officially graduated from their Pasco County Sheriff’s K-9 school and are now on duty at home with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. (PCSO). There have been some new challenges as the hounds transition from rural to urban life, but our champion sniffers are ready for anything.

“It’s been a definite change, coming from Pasco where everything is so rural back down here where everything is concrete,” said Deputy Anthony Ashworth, K-9 Duke’s handler. “He experienced some concrete up there but it’s nothing like down here.” Every environment and surface holds scents differently, and the bloodhounds have to learn to navigate each unique scent picture. “Concrete is a hard surface so you’re not going to get the broken vegetation as you walk across it, it’s not going to hold human odor as well as grass or a softer surface would. Plus, on concrete there are a lot of foreign smells – all the vehicle smells and chemicals. We’ve been incorporating a lot more training tracks on concrete and hard surfaces so we become proficient.” 

If you know one thing about bloodhounds beyond their tracking ability, it’s that they’re notoriously stubborn and difficult to obedience train. But these brilliant boys are proving the stereotype wrong. They learned to sit, down, and stay. Watching that, Deputy Ashworth had an inspiration. 

“We were doing a training track one day, and when we found the person Duke jumped up on him. Every dog does that. And then I started playing it through my head: if we’re tracking a missing elderly person or a child the last thing we want these dogs to do is jump on them. They could knock them over, injure them, scare them. So I pitched it to the lead instructor, and explained my thought process about what we could do. After he thought about it a while he decided, let’s try it.”

Deputy Ashworth said the bloodhounds understood right away. “We incorporated obedience into the track so the final response for these guys is to go into a down position, which has worked phenomenally. It doesn’t matter if I’m 10 feet behind, or 25 feet behind. If he gets to you first he’s going to roll into that down position until I get up there. It’s awesome.”

Even when he’s hunkered down, Duke is still clearly showing how much joy he feels in finding someone. “He’s giving me that alert once we’re getting close, just wagging his little butt and going crazy. He’s super excited but he goes into the down.”

The excitement is a good sign though. These dogs love tracking, and even though there is a food reward at the end, plus praise and a tug toy, they seem to get a lot of satisfaction from a catch. But Duke is still young. “He’s definitely still a puppy – he still has a lot of maturing to do. But we’re getting there. When we’re out and about he’s still going to do the puppy thing. He wants some attention. But he’s absolutely focused when he’s working. When we’re on a track he’s locked in.”

Deputy Ashworth and Duke have only just hit the road, and they’re eagerly awaiting their first catch. Their first was a call for a missing elderly person with dementia. “There was an eight-hour time delay. The longest we’ve hit up in Pasco was three to four hours. And at that time the training scenario was set up in our favor, on a soft surface, the temperature was perfect for a track, the wind was perfect. When we set up that picture they’re going to hit it.”

Real life was more complicated. “Then we come down here and roll straight into that eight-hour track in a concrete jungle. We ultimately didn’t find the track, and instead conducted an area search, hoping to pick it up on wind. The person ended up being found several hours later.” It was a win for the citizen and the community, but Duke was still waiting for his real-world catch.

In training they like to set them up for a win, and though there were a few times when the bloodhounds didn’t have a successful track in training, the real world will always throw more complexity at them. Their noses will grow from experience though. 

“It was my first call, and obviously you want to get it. Eight hours? I’m still going to tackle it like it’s a 30-minute delay. But it was definitely a gut check for me.”

The team has had other deployments in their short time on duty. “We’ve had some close ones.” With one, it should have been an easy catch because the missing person was only a hundred yards from the house. But just as Duke was starting the track, a deputy on the perimeter found the missing person before Duke could. 

They’ll get their chance soon. People go missing every day throughout Pinellas County, whether it is an elderly relative with dementia, or a special needs child hiding in a neighbor’s backyard. Since Duke and his brother Holmes (who is partnered with Deputy Dalton Schomp) are the only bloodhounds in Pinellas they can be called by other law enforcement agencies around the county. Duke has already gotten calls from St. Petersburg, Largo, and a few weeks ago Hillsborough called them for a bloodhound. Hillsborough has its own bloodhounds. “Maybe they just heard that Pinellas has the best!”

Although their primary focus is missing people, the bloodhounds can track criminals too. “The stipulation is that we will have to have at least two people with us, because we have to focus on controlling the dog. He’s a 75-pound anchor. If we locate the person I’m kind of useless, and he’s not an apprehension dog. So we need someone there to assist us.” 

You can meet our bloodhounds – plus the four patrol K-9s currently in school – on Tuesday, November 14 at 7:00 p.m. at the K-9 Graduation at England Brothers Park, 5010 81^st Avenue North in Pinellas Park. The dogs will show off their new skills, and the K-9 Unit will put on entertaining demonstrations and skits. The event is free and open to the public.

We’ve noticed people don’t always like it when we visit their homes, so last week we decided to invite everyone to our house instead. And since our actual “homes” are secure facilities, we brought the best of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) to you at National Night Out. With one location at Highlander Park in Dunedin, and another at Seminole City Center, it was easy for the citizens of Pinellas County to come out for a visit and a chat as they experienced some of the most exciting components of our agency.

Our newest member of the Public Relations Bureau, Annie Schneider, was at National Night Out and got to experience it both as an employee and a first-time visitor.

“I think the thing that made me happiest was seeing so many families get involved and have their kids explore all the cool things that we have,” Annie said. “Feeling the excitement of seeing law enforcement and the community have fun together and spend time together in such a positive way was a really nice thing.” So many times, when people interact with law enforcement there is a negative aspect – they call us because something has gone wrong. Or, their impressions of law enforcement come from a few unflattering news stories that don’t paint a complete picture of what the job is all about. Events such as National Night Out can change that perspective. Public engagement, public service, and public education are what PCSO is all about.

Some people came to the two events to find out more about careers with PCSO. A young woman who hoped to become a patrol deputy took advantage of the event to network with as many deputies as she could and find out all about the agency. A man who wasn’t sure exactly where he wanted to take his career talked to our Human Resources about the wide variety of jobs, both sworn and civilian.

And of course there was all the swag. Kids wanted to be sworn in with junior deputy stickers, or accessorize with glow-in-the-dark PCSO bracelets. Even some jaded teens who looked too cool for promo items snuck back for our slap bracelets. Of course we’re all about safety, and one of our most popular giveaways was a car safety tool which can shatter a window or cut a seatbelt in the event of an accident. Many people had heard of the tools and knew they can save lives, but hadn’t gotten around to getting one for their own vehicle, and they were grateful to have one. 

It was a chance to share safety tips, too. Parents chatted with deputies from our Crime Prevention and Community Awareness Unit (CPCA) about things like internet safety and school safety. CPCA deputies give presentations all around the county about those topics as well as fraud prevention, personal safety, and active assailant training, so they were a perfect resource. 

We had almost every asset represented at one of the two locations: our helicopter, K-9, SWAT, armored vehicles, high water rescue vehicles, classic patrol cars, and even our Marine and Environmental Lands Unit. Kids were allowed to go inside the armored vehicle, climb all over the boat, and sit in a patrol Tahoe to flash the red and blue lights and activate the sirens. When the Tahoe siren whooped, a firetruck on the other side of the event answered. 

“Events like this are really heartwarming to me because I know how much agencies do for their communities, and I also know how many challenges law enforcement agencies are facing now,” Annie said. “People were coming up to thank our members for what they do. I like positive community events like this where people get to learn and see things they don’t see every day. I wish this happened more than once a year!”

Well Annie, you’re in luck. Even though National Night Out is an annual event, there are plenty of other opportunities to meet PCSO members and play with some of our toys. K-9 Graduation is coming on November 14, and we’ll have the helicopter, K-9, and lots of specialized vehicles at our fun annual fundraiser Ride And Run With The Stars on December 2 at Fort DeSoto Park. 

We also go to as many community events as we can. You can find us at city events, festivals, races, and other happenings. Did you know that you can request a PSCO speaker or asset for your club or organization. Some people think you have to have a huge event to request a deputy with a Tahoe, or a K-9 demonstration, or an armored vehicle. Really, we’ll come out for any reasonably sized group. Would you like us to visit your church group or your kids’ preschool class? Is your company having an employee picnic? Do you have twenty friends with an interest in law enforcement and a venue big enough for an MRAP? We’ll come out and meet you! Depending on the nature of the event we could send out a K-9 team, vehicles, crime prevention speakers, or even the helicopter. Just fill out the form on our website and we’ll be in touch!