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Police K-9s get new equipment to stay safe
New equipment for Cobb County Police Department's K-9 Unit. This comes after a K-9 died last summer after being left in a hot car.
COBB COUNTY, Ga. - The Cobb County Police Department's K-9 unit has some new technology to keep their dogs safe.
There are seven new vehicles equipped with the new ACE K-9 System. If a dog is inside the vehicle and the temperature gets too hot, the vehicles blue lights start flashing, the siren starts blaring, windows roll down, fans inside turn on, and the handler along with four others will get alerts on their phones.
There's also a "no dog left behind" feature. The handler gets an alert if the dog is accidentally left in the vehicle.
Cobb County K-9 dies in hot patrol car
Police started looking for newer and better technology after K-9 Chase died last summer. His handler was in a training exercise and when he went to check on Chase, he found the dog in distress.
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Cobb County police dog dies in hot patrol car
A Cobb County K-9 officer died inside a hot patrol car after the AC malfunctioned. Cobb County police say it happened while the handler was in a training exercise and that he is not at fault.
"The vehicle was still running, he left the air conditioning on, but the car started blowing heat. There was also a failure with all the equipment, everything failed, and tragically we did lose a K-9 from that," said Lt. Mark Blakeney, commander of the K-9 unit.
If the handlers have to be away from their dogs for a longer period of time, there's also a new climate-controlled kennel. It is set up with cameras that will allow the handlers to pull up live video of their dog on their phones.
In addition to the new technology, handlers also received additional medical training for their dogs.
"We've had instructors come from other countries for some very advanced first-aid training," said Lt. Blakeney.
Lt. Blakeney said they're doing all they can to look out for th health of their K-9 partners.
"Most of our handlers spend more time with their dog than they do with their kids. They live with them, they're with them all day long, every day," said Lt. Blakeney.