Canine Law Enforcement Training Held at Northwest

DeSoto County Deputy Zack Dickerson and his dog Beretta head into Northwest Mississippi Community College’s Marshall Residence Hall for canine certification training held on the Senatobia campus recently. The dogs were trained and certified in detection work, tracking, bomb detection and bite work. Northwest has a good working relationship with local law enforcement and hosts law enforcement training on its campus if possible. (Photo by Lindsay Crawford)

Recently, the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department held a canine certification class at Northwest Mississippi Community College’s Senatobia campus. According to Northwest Police Chief, Zabe Davis, it was one of several training sessions his department is sponsoring this year.

The DeSoto and Marshall County Sheriff’s Departments and Southaven Police Department were on campus to train their multi-purpose dogs in detection work, certain types of tracking, bomb detection and bite work. The residence halls on the Senatobia campus were used in part of the training.

“The residence halls are closed right now for summer, so there were no students or students’ personal items in the halls. We used them to give the dogs a real world scenario for detection as if they were in a house or apartment,” Davis said. He said that the dogs were required to find marijuana, cocaine, meth and heroin in order to pass their certification, and all of them passed.

Davis feels that it is important to keep good relationships with local law enforcement.

“We have a good working relationship with Sheriff Rasco and Chief Tom Long. They help us out by offering our officers training and providing additional support at our Southaven Campus, so any time we get the opportunity or our facilities are beneficial to them, we offer them the opportunity to come down and use them,” Davis said. He said that they also have good working relationships with agencies in Lafayette, Marshall, Tate and Benton counties as well, where Northwest has additional campuses.

In March, Northwest hosted the Regional Counterdrug Training Academy (RCTA)’s Officer Involved Shooting class, which helps officers learn what to do in the case of an officer-involved shooting. RCTA provides free training for law enforcement in various areas. The class was sponsored by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Oxford. Davis said that in July, RTCA will be back to host a two-day training class on a prescription narcotics investigation.

The Northwest Office of Campus Police is responsible for safety and security on all campuses at Northwest. They can be contacted at anytime, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information, contact the Office of Campus Police at 662-562-3314.

Article courtesy of Northwest Community College