Law Enforcement Dogs Graduate Academy
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Galloway, N.J. – Your local schools aren’t the only ones graduating their students this week. Today two classes of police dog and handler teams from 13 different agencies graduated from the New Jersey State Police Canine Academy in a ceremony at Stockton State College. The extensive training programs prepared them for either patrol duties or tracking assignments, with 22 teams one school and two teams completing both schools. Today’s commencement was highlighted by graduating dogs receiving their badges and a number of retired dogs with their handlers receiving recognition for a job well done.
Patrol Class #13 began September 24, 2012 and concluded 20 weeks later on February 8, 2013. The class was put on hold for one week due to Super-storm Sandy. Training was held at locations from Cape May to Jersey City and covered obedience, agility, tracking of a missing person or suspect, building and field searches, article searches and criminal apprehension.
Scent Class #28 began on March 18, 2013 and completed the 14 week training course today. Teams represented one federal agency, three state agencies, one sheriff’s department and six municipal departments, including two from Pennsylvania. The class was divided between six narcotic detection teams and 10 explosive detection teams. The narcotic detection teams are trained on six types of narcotics and the explosive detection teams are trained on fourteen types of explosives. This was the first class to have peroxide based explosive training as part of their basic class. Six of the explosive detection teams are now members of the New Jersey Detect and Render Safe Task Force, which may be called to work throughout the state, or even beyond, should the need arise.
The head trainer for the academy is Sgt. Archer Jones with the NJSP. Assistant trainers are A/Sgt. Bryan Trexler, NJSP, Trooper I Jeffrey Riva, NJSP, and Officer Donald Mitchell, N.J. Department of Corrections.
| Graduates of Patrol Class #13 | |
| Trooper I Richard Marchetti #5740 & K-9 Martin | State Police |
| Trooper II Rene Roman #6528 & K-9 Nidas | State Police |
| Trooper Chris Pastor #6959 & K-9 Odin | New Jersey State Police |
| P/O Eric Petersen & K-9 Ali | Jersey City Police Department |
| P/O Michael O'Connell & K-9 Rex | Jersey City Police Department |
| P/O Allen Williams & K-9 Achilles | Camden Police Department |
| P/O Jennifer Doyle & K-9 Bella | Abington (PA) Police Department |
| P/O David Berry & K-9 Dexter | Middletown (PA) Police Department |
| Graduates of Scent Class #28 | |
| Explosive Detection Teams: | |
| SSA Scott Nawrocki & K-9 Roxy | Federal Bureau of Investigation |
| Trooper I. Roger Markert #6004 & K-9 Hawk | New Jersey State Police |
| SCO Donald Mitchell & K-9 Ice | New Jersey Dept. of Corrections |
| P/O Christopher Hensel & K-9 Pasha | New Jersey Transit Police |
| P/O Mark Spirito & K-9 Deano | New Jersey Transit Police |
| S/O Robert J. Conover & K-9 Argo | New Jersey Transit Police |
| Ptlm. James Miltenberger & K-9 Boomer | Atlantic City Police Department |
| Ptlm. Christopher Burns & K-9 Bak | Bordentown Twp. Police Department |
| P/O Michael O’Connell & K-9 Rex | Jersey City Police Department |
| P/O Jennifer Doyle & K-9 Bella | Abington (PA) Police Department |
| Narcotic Detection Teams: | |
| Tpr. II. Emilio Gomez #6678 & K-9 Diesel | New Jersey State Police |
| Tpr. Ryan Sutedja #6882 & K-9 Buck | New Jersey State Police |
| Tpr. Jonathan A. Sevilla #7068 & K-9 Ike | New Jersey State Police |
| Ptlm. Kevin Guire & K-9 Boston | Bordentown Twp. Police Department |
| Ptlm. Thomas A. Snyder & K-9 Eli | Hopatcong Police Department |
| P/O David Berry & K-9 Dexter | Middletown (PA) Police Department |
