Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Friday, November 2, 2012
(BUTLERVILLE) - Indiana State Police K-9 Troopers along with several other K-9 police officers found themselves on an active military base during last week’s International Police Work Dog Association (IPWDA) 2012 Training, Tactics and Certification National Conference.
The active military base, Muscatatuck Urban Training Center (MUTC) housed over 100 K-9 officers from around the nation and as far away as Canada.
The International Police Work Dog Association chose Muscatatuck Urban Training Center for the second year in a row as the location to hold their annual training and certification conference for police canines. The officers and their K-9 partners learn techniques and become certified in tracking, evidence, narcotics and explosives searching. The IPWDA is committed to providing the best training practices and tactics along with certification for the most cost effective measures to their members. I.P.W.D.A. offered training, scenarios based on practical situations that a K-9 officer could encounter in a working environment, along with tactics and certifications.
Training and certification venues are set up all over Muscatatuck using large rubble piles and collapsed buildings for search and recovery training. Buildings that have hidden compartments in them are used for evidence and narcotics searching. The handlers and their K-9 partner's move from venue to venue in order to learn from the Master Trainers in order to achieve certification or re-certification, proving that they are proficient at their job.
MUTC is a secluded, self contained community, once home to the Muscatatuck State Developmental Center. The 1,000 acre site was turned over to the Indiana National Guard in July of 2005 and since has been continually evolving into a full-immersion contemporary urban training environment.
Those utilizing MUTC have access to a 180 acre reservoir and urban infrastructure consisting of 68 major buildings including a school, hospital, dormitories, light industrial structures, single family type dwellings, a dining facility and administrative buildings totaling approximately 850,000 square feet of floor space. Additionally the training area includes an extensive underground utility tunnel system and over 9 miles of roads and streets.
MUTC is a consortium of governmental, public and private entities that are pooling their unique capabilities in order to provide the most realistic training experience possible. Training that can be tailored to replicate both foreign and domestic scenarios and that can be utilized by various civilian and military organizations. In its first year of operation the facilities at MUTC have been utilized by over 16,000 people from military, government and private agencies and is continually expanding training capabilities for future needs.
Established in the fall of 2005, the Indiana State Police Patrol K-9 program currently has thirty Patrol K-9's and an additional three K-9 teams from the Indiana State Capitol Police. The ISP Patrol K-9's participate in over thirty-five hundred details annually from vehicle searches, building searches, tracks, assisting other agencies and public appearances.
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