Tampa Police Welcome New K-9 Recruits

Three four-legged recruits have joined the Tampa Police Department and made their debut today outside the agency's downtown headquarters.

Camden Property Trust and the Jimmy Ryce Center for Victims of Predatory Abduction recently donated monies to allow the department to purchase three working dogs.  

The property management group donated money to purchase "Camden," a Belgian Malinois, and the Jimmy Ryce Center donated two bloodhound puppies, "Ellie Mae" and "Riley."  

Camden is 17 months old and has been partnered with Cpl. M.W. "Wade" Turner as a patrol dog and explosives detection dog. Delivered last Wednesday, the dog has approximately 700 hours of patrol and odor classes to complete training over the next 14 weeks, Turner said.

Ellie Mae and Riley are 12 weeks old and come from the same litter. They are the third and fourth bloodhounds the Jimmy Ryce Foundation have donated to Tampa Police. Ellie May will be partnered with K-9 Officer Sandy Learned, and Riley will be partnered with K-9 Officer Ray Wurst. The bloodhounds will be trained on tracking missing children and homicide victims.

Tampa Police use 22 dogs from six breeds trained in suspect captures, search and rescue, and drug and bomb detection. The dogs are recertified each year through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Police K-9s become certified either as a dual purpose or a single purpose dog. Single purpose dogs, like Ellie Mae and Riley, have one job: search and rescue, drug detection or sniffing out explosives. Dual purpose dogs, like Camden, catch suspects and have another job, such as searching for explosives or drugs.

The dogs live with their human partners, and when they retire they spend their golden years as a pet of their handler or another officer. Camden is Turner's third canine partner.

The Jimmy Ryce Center was established in 1996 in honor of Jimmy Ryce, a 9-year-old boy who was kidnapped at gunpoint from his school bus stop in 1995, sexually assaulted and shot as he tried to escape. Since then, the Center has given more than 500 tracking dogs to police departments nationwide, said representative Hilary Sessions, who was on hand at the debut event.

Sessions described these dogs as a tool to help officers do their jobs.

"They may have their utility belts and their guns … but this is a super extension," she said.

Camden Property Trust Vice President Ed Malone said his company's $3,500 donation to the police department was "an absolute natural."

"It was our honor and a privilege to be able to do it," he said.