COLUMN: ECSO thanks Camryn Samuel for K9 vests

Submitted photo.

Ellis County Sheriff Johnny Brown.

During Commissioners Court earlier this week, we took the opportunity to publicly thank Camryn Samuel for her efforts to outfit law enforcement K9s with ballistic vests.

When Camryn turned 10, her mom asked her if she'd like to donate her birthday money to a charity. Camryn told her mom she wanted to buy a vest for a police dog. When they couldn't find a charity that does that, they contacted us – and Camryn began raising money. She didn't stop at buying one vest. She didn't stop at two. She's since raised more than $8,000 and bought seven ballistic vests so far, including vests for our K9s, Cedar Hill PD's, Mansfield PD's and Waxahachie PD's. We certainly appreciate Camryn for what she's done and she tells me she's going to continue fundraising so she can buy vests for other agencies that have K9s.

K9s are a key tool we have in law enforcement. Their sense of smell is 44 times greater than a human's and that's why they're able to do things like track down a missing child or someone who's run from police. It's why they can detect illegal drugs and alert us where drugs are hidden. Not only do they have a better sense of smell, a dog's hearing is 25 times greater than a human's. They detect motion better and they can run from 25 to 30 miles per hour. They're going to win in a foot race against a suspect.

Both of our agency's canines are dual-purpose, which means they're capable of searching and tracking criminals, conducting article/evidence searching, protecting their handlers and detecting drugs. Both have been certified through the United States Police Canine Association and the National Narcotics Detector Dog Association and we use them to provide support to all of our divisions as well as provide mutual aid to surrounding agencies if called upon. Typically, our canines are used when there's a high misdemeanor or felony offense involved. In addition to their law enforcement duties, our K9s and handlers are also out in the community giving numerous presentations each year on safety and crime prevention topics.

Not every dog has what it takes to go into law enforcement. The ones that make it through the selection process undergo a three-month initial training with their handlers where they learn to work together as a team. This training includes obedience, agility, searches and tracking, aggressive person, handler protection and high-risk stops/vehicles scenarios. The handlers channel their dogs' desire to play and reward them with a favorite toy when they complete a task. Once the K9s graduate, their training continues and every month they'll undergo at least 16 hours of additional training. Your sheriff's office has set up its own training facility, where our K9s and other agencies' K9s work with their handlers on various training exercises.

Because of the service they provide, Texas law takes seriously the wellbeing of these police service officers, which include dogs and horses, assisting law enforcement in this state. It's a class C violation to taunt a police service officer. It's a state jail felony to injure one. Anyone who kills a police service officer will face a second-degree felony charge. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris are a stark reminder of the price K9s can pay for their role in law enforcement.

Please, everyone, let's keep our military and service personnel, which includes our military's canines, in our thoughts and prayers. We enjoy our rights and freedoms because of their service and safekeeping of our great nation. Y'all have a Blessed Week.

Johnny Brown has served as Sheriff of Ellis County since Jan. 1, 2009, and is a graduate of the National Sheriff's Institute. He has been in law enforcement for more than 20 years and holds a Master's Peace Officer's Certificate with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education.