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Don't wait too late to call us! When someone is reported lost or over due, time may be critical. Human lives may be in danger. The ability to save a life is often dependent upon how quickly the person can be found. B.A.R.K. is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to help. For the victims’ sake, please call our search dog unit as soon as possible. We would rather be called and not needed than to be needed and not called.
If a member of your family or a friend is lost or missing, please contact your local law enforcement agency. We can only respond to requests from law enforcement and fire departments. You are welcome to provide our information to the agency in charge
and request that they contact us.
Information for Law Enforcement & Fire Departments:
We are dispatched by request of any law enforcement agency or fire department. We always work 100% free-of-charge as unpaid professionals. Our handlers are schooled in evidence preservation and can work within your existing incident command structure.
All handlers have also undergone an FBI background check.
Whether your agency decides to call our organization or another we want you to be aware of some of the questions that you can ask to help ensure that you are utilizing competent & professional resources:
1) Who certified the dogs and how often are they recertified?
- Any K-9 unit used in a criminal investigation should be certified to current industry standards which include a national LE agency certification and recertification every year by that agency.
2) Can the organization provide LE references?
- If the organization cannot provide LE references, then they probably are not properly certified, although some organizations can provide LE references even though they are not properly certified. Always request to see their certification credentials.
3) How many certified dogs do you have for the scenario?
- Depending on the size of the search, there should be no less than 2 K-9s responding, but you also should not be overrun by K-9s and handlers just ‘trying to get in on the action” either.
Ask for a demo of their K-9s abilities and have some of your LE K-9 handlers present to observe. Request that your K-9 handlers place the cadaver source, run the track or get in place for an area search demo so that the scenario is unknown to the handler and you can observe how they would work during a real search.
K-9s are not 100%, but you should never be overwhelmed with excuses why a K-9 isn’t working properly. If you hear lots of excuses or the handler is making outlandish claims of 100s of finds, listen to your instincts and steer clear.
Finally, make sure that you are utilizing the correct resource. Just because a dog is land cadaver certified and has several confirmed finds doesn’t mean that dog can work water cadaver and vice versa. If you need a tracking dog, make sure you know how old a trail that dog can run.
Air scenting dogs and most cadaver dogs work off lead, so be sure to let the person know about roads and traffic, stray dogs, alligators and other distractions or dangers. If you don’t want media there, be sure to tell the SAR group. Some SAR groups will notify the press. Our organization will not notify the press and will refer all questions to your designated PR person. Most SAR groups will set up a command post, if you need the search to be low key, please tell them before they get to the scene.
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