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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 10, 2020 02:00 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Leanne Krueger |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Co-Sponsorship: Statewide Police K-9 Training Standards |
| K-9 handlers and their dogs – powerful and dedicated teams that work together to keep us safe. This group of specialty officers and their companions are essential and must endure difficult training to prove that they can accomplish even the most difficult tasks set out before them. In Pennsylvania, our state and local K-9 teams continue to be a great example of the dedication of our law enforcement services. However, the non-standardized training of municipal and state K-9 units can create drastic learning curves between the two, with some municipal units training for much shorter or longer periods of time than state units. My legislation aims to better standardize municipal K-9 team training in Pennsylvania by requiring the Municipal Police Officer’s Education and Training Commission to work together with the State Police to establish K-9 team and K-9 specialty team training and certification standards following those used by the United States Police Canine Association. It would also require those standards to be reviewed and updated at least every two years, or sooner if necessary, and require the Legislative Reference Bureau to be notified of the updated standards so they can publish them in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. Our municipal K-9 teams deserve to be trained properly and to a standard that will protect both handler and canine. By incorporating the United States Police Canine Association standards into a standard created by our own municipal and state police organizations, we can continue to support our K-9 teams as they put their lives on the line every day to protect us. Please consider co-sponsoring my legislation to help our K-9 units be the best that they can be. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact my office at tlatham@pahouse.net. |
Introduced as HB349