K9 Unit

Duties & Responsibilities

The Liberal Police Department's Canine Unit utilizes a highly trained police canine to assist in a variety of specialized and often dangerous circumstances. 

PSD (Patrol Service Dog) Griff is a German Shepherd and he has proven to be an extremely valuable resource in the effective investigation and suppression of criminal activity. He also has served as an effective training tool to help teach children to resist drugs and violence.

On-Call Assignments

PSD Griff is assigned to Officer Travis Burgess and as team they are assigned to narcotics investigations.  They are also on-call and available for use by the Patrol Division, Special Response Team, special projects, as well as being regularly utilized by surrounding law enforcement agencies.

Patrol Functions

Griff is a dual-purpose dog. This means he is utilized for the detection of illegal drugs, as well as patrol functions including:

• Building and open field searches
• Crowd control
• Handler/officer protection
• High risk criminal apprehensions
• Searching for discarded evidence
• Tracking of fleeing criminals or lost persons

Training

In order to be a certified K9 team, Officer Burgess and PSD Griff attended training in Colorado Springs,Colorado.