The Banning Police Department has utilized police K-9 teams for many years and have become an integral part of patrol services. The highly trained team of handler and K-9 allow patrol teams to operate in a safer and more efficient capacity. Police K-9 teams are a specialized unit assigned to patrol. They are generally deployed to calls for service in which they are used for tracking and locating suspects, searching residential and commercial buildings, crowd control and suspect apprehension. Currently the Banning Police Department has three full time K-9 teams assigned to patrol. Two police dogs currently in use are highly trained German Shepards. Each K-9 team goes through an initial 400-hour basic handler course instructed by Pat Beltz at Work Dogs International in
( www.banningpolice.org )
