Review: Police Dog Tactics, 2nd edition, by Sandy Bryson
by Sandy Bryson
Review written by Jessi S. Clark-White
Copyright 2001
Police Dog Tactics is back, sporting a new publisher, a flashy new full-color cover, and modernized content. It doesn’t seem long ago that the first edition came out, but a conspicuous new addition marks the passage of time: Internet addresses! The attractive photo cover is a nice change from the first edition, whose predominantly black cover would have been more suited to a bad horror movie.
Police Dog Tactics is the most comprehensive book available on the use of police service dogs, with a whopping 457 pages in 8 x 10” format devoted to all areas of canine law enforcement and then some.
The major topics covered are:
- Police dog program management
- Street tactics, including vehicle stops, robberies, fights, domestic disputes, SWAT operations, and more
- Finding offenders, including building searches, metropolitan areas, rural and backcountry searches, etc.
- Prison patrol; a large section for correction officers working inside a facility or dealing with escapes
- Evidence searches, including fires and aircraft crashes as well as more conventional search scenarios
- Drug searches of buildings, vehicles, parcels, aircraft, vessels, and open areas
- Search and rescue (also useful for non-law enforcement teams), with sections on FEMA, hasty searches, area searches, urban disasters, water searches, and avalanches
- Bomb dogs; operations/tactics and resources
- International service for search and rescue teams including medical considerations, travel papers, and support & supplies.
The MO of Police Dog Tactics is to offer real-life stories and quotes from officers, trainers, and supervisors. These are combined with case law, advice from the author, special sections written by experts such as veterinarians and doctors, and photos & diagrams to give the reader the benefit of many people’s experience in the field.
This is the most complete and detailed resource on police canine handling and tactics available, with countless scenarios and contingencies discussed and reviewed. This is not a dog-training manual per se, but it will certainly give trainers a solid idea of what they need to work on. Author Sandy Bryson gets my award of valor for going through the time consuming process of writing such a monumental resource!
Search and rescue handlers should find this book very informative, and if you are not involved in any of the fields covered, but simply enjoy reading real police and working dog tales, this is the book for you! Especially interesting are firsthand accounts from canine handlers involved in major events such as the Oklahoma City bombing and the 1988 Armenian earthquake.
It would be impossible to list all of the specialized topics covered; suffice it to say that if you think Police Dog Tactics might be useful to you, it probably will be! If you are involved with working dogs and their handlers in any capacity, buy this book. It is well worth the price.
