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Home My WebLink AboutNB 8 P.D. CANINE PROP. 03-16-81DATE: March 11, 1981 N~ BUS IN~qS Inter-Corn TO: FROM: SUBJECT: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DAN BLANK~SHIP, CITY ADMINISTRATOR POLICE CANINE PROPOSAL Attached is a proposal by the Police Department to establish two police canine units to aid in police protection within the City. I recommend approval of the proposal. The use of properly trained canine units can increase efficiency in certain police searches while protecting the life of officers. The savings from that increased efficieney will oover the oost of the program's expenses while adding to t_he amount of police patrol time available. The costs could be slightly higher due to the initial value of the transfered vehicles and potential cost of replacement if future patrol cars are not suitable for the purpose (for example, non moveable rear side windows). DAN BLAN~ENSfiIP, City Ac]ministrator DB:dmt DATE: TO: FROH: SUBJECT: March 11, 1981 NE~BUSIN~S No. 8 3-16-81 nter- Corn Honorable Mayor and City Co~'~ Members Ron Nault, Finance Directo ~~ Police Canine Proposal There are available salary savings in the Police Department to accommodate this program. This will not require an additional appropriation by Council; it will not have an effect on our City's spending limitation. cc: Dan Blankenship Chief Thayer DATE: MARCH 10, 1981 NEW BUSINESS 3-16-81 Inter-Corn FROM: SUBJECT: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL C. R. THAYER, CHIEF OF POLICE POLICE CANINE PROPOSAL After discussing the attached proposal with several of you and with Mr. Blankenship, I am presenting the following supplemental information which I feel might be of interest to the Council in arriving at a decision in this matter. COST Assuming a service life of approximately six years, which does not seem an overly optimistic possibility, the average cost for this program staffed with two canines, over the current and succeeding five budgets, would be $9,917 per fiscal year (fiscal year '81 through fiscal year '86) (this figure is 1981 dollars and we should expect some increases due to inflation). However, this shows a very reas'onable cost for a program of high benefit. ' At the end of the service life of the dog, we would anticipate another cycle with the purchase and training of a new canine at an additional cost that particular year, and then moving back into the lower yearly maintenance cost. In reference to actual man-hour savings, a quick survey determined there are an average of twelve incidents a day in which the canine would be called upon to perform building checks for burglary alarms or suspicious subjects in buildings. This would affect a savings of approximately 5.4 man-hours per day for the Police Department. Projected over the period of a full year (49 working weeks) this is a saving of 165 man-days per year, or two-thirds of one full time officer. This represents a dollar savings of approximately $16,000 during the course of a year. The extra time would be used to increase the woefully low patrol time that officers now have. This would allow more work to be done in the area of crime prevention and suppression, so that less would have to be spent on "after the fact" police activity. The feeling among the police officers for this program is such that we will not have to anticipate special charges for the boarding of the animal. He will be kept at an officer's home and we will choose the officers to be assigned this duty with an eye toward speedy emergency response to the City of Tustin should the canine be needed during his off-duty hours. Therefore, in all probability, canine handlers will be required to live within the Page 2 Police Canine Proposal 3/10/81 County of Orange, but consideration will be ~iven primarily to travel time from their residence to the City. Since the officer will be provided with a unit to drive back and forth from his home, the Police Department plans no further compensation and, at this time, feels that it will not be a "meet and confer" item in the immediate future. Realistically, this item might come up at some future date, after the next contract has been settled, and when the newnes~ of this program and excitation over it has abated somewhat. In order that we not go to the expense of training an officer and then lose his services due to transfer to some other duties, or his resignation from service to the City of Tustin, we will require a written agreement to be designed by the City Attorney, with a contracted service period for any officer working in the canine unit. This will allow us to minimize undue expenses caused by turnover among trained canine handlers. This does not seem to present a problem and officers interested in the program assure us it wil,1 not be one. However, we have further investigated the idea of transferring the trained canine to a new handler and find that with appropriate supplemental training, this is a 90% surety with European bred dogs. The figure is considerably lower with dogs bred in this country and this is one of the primary reasons for seeking Council's permission to purchase European bred dogs. It will allow us to maximize the service life of the dog by transferring him from one handler to another until retirement for him is mandatory because of physical condition, rather than losing a dog because he cannot adapt to a new trainer. The conversion of the two police units to canine units will mean that in the funding for replacement of those units, there will be no trade-in value received for these two units. However, this is a minimal and one-time only expense. OTHER CONCERNS It is iateresting to note that canine workhours seem to be very parallel with human workhours and that while the fatigue factor does affect the canine at the end of his eight hour day, he is also subject to excitation and longer work effectiveness during unusual occurrences (he senses much of this excitement from his trainer and the other officers around him). We can therefore expect that there will be no significant problems posed by less strength of the animal or less endurance, etc. There are no hard statisticts on the number of canines disabled or killed in service and most literature on the subject speaks of the dogs "honorably retiring" at the end of a long and fruitful career. Page 3 Police Canine Proposal 3/10/81 We were asked about the probability of the canine handler being more inclined to use deadly force to protect his animal's life. In fact, just the opposite seems to be true. Handlers have such faith in the abilities of their animals that they are less inclined to use deadly force. By the same token, the innate fear of animals is such that suspects seem less inclined to' use deadly force against an arresting canine than an arresting human officer. In addition to this, the canine makes a smaller, faster (and fiercer) target, so that even if deadly force is attempted, it is less likely to be effective. CONCLUSION I find this program exciting and beneficial. The greatest benefits should be realized in the protection of officers and citizens and the increased effectiveness of apprehension and in the provision of better service to the citizens of Tustin. This program warrants your close consideration and I highly recommend a favorable decision on it. FISCAL IMPACT Implementation costs are $6,450 per canine unit. be allocated from unused salaries presently Department budget. These funds can in the Police RECOMMENDATION Authorize Police Department to implement two canine patrol units and related equipment with funds from unused salary accounts. Chief of Police CRT:dh CANINE UNIT IHPLE~ENTATION BUDGET* TRAINING EQUIPMENT HOUSING & UTENSILS VET. SERVICES & FOOD* VEHICLE CONVERSION & MAINTENANCE* HANDLER TRAINING PURCHASE GEP, I~ SHEPHERD DOGS · TOTAL IMPLEMENTATION COST UNIT PRICE TNO DOGS $ 370 $ 740 535 !,070 210 420 885 1~770 450 900 4,000 8,000 $6,450 $12,900 *This budget only considers those .on going maintenance, vet and food costs through the end of this fiscal year, June 30, 1981. AFTER PURCHASE, ANNUAL MAINTENANCE COSTS ARE: VET. AND FOOD $ 840 $1,680 VEHICLE MAINTENANCE 3,420 6,840 TRAINING UPDATE & MISC. EQUIP. 400 800 $4,660 $9,320