Hamilton Twp K-9 Team Gets Perfect Score in Drug Detection

A K-9 police team from Hamilton Township was perfect during Tuesday's 'Scent Trials" held in Galloway.

K-9 Officer Stephen Boyd and his partner, Taz, competed at the United States Police K-9 Association Region 15 Scent Trials held at Galloway's Veteran's Park.

Officer Boyd and K-9 Taz received a perfect “100” score in Narcotic Detector Certification.

Hamilton Twp K-9 Team Gets Perfect Score in Competition

This perfect score is quite an accomplishment for the Township of Hamilton Police.

It's unclear if Officer Boyd and Taz plan to attend the finals in the United States Police K-9 Association Region National Detector Trials being held in Tulsa this June, but the score is about more than bragging rights.

Courts require that these tests be done each year to show that proper canine techniques, deployments, and court-mandated charges were made if the township's drug cases are going to hold up before a judge.

Police canine professionals are used as evaluators to observe and record and a numbering system is used to determine a passing score.

If evaluators take points off an exercise, it gives handlers an idea of where improvement is needed. The point system allows canine teams to see their progress each year, as they improve training and gain experience.

Obviously, it's best to get perfect scores like Boyd and Taz received this week.

But this Hamilton Police team knows they have to stay on their heels or paws, as the case may be.

Next year, they will be retested to ensure they maintain the proper fundamentals of training and technique.

As the Facebook post from Hamilton Twp police says about the K-9 team...

"Congratulations to K-9 Ofc. Boyd and K-9 Taz on their exceptional hard work and commitment to keeping the Township of Hamilton safe. Let’s give them a “round of a paws.”