MISSION STATEMENT

It is the mission of the Canine Division to locate suspects, lost persons, contraband and perform public demonstrations to educate the citizens of Harris County of the canines specialized abilities.

GOAL

It is the goal of this Canine Unit to provide support to all other divisions in safely locating suspects who have fled or concealed themselves in an effort to avoid arrest from any Law Enforcement Agency in Harris County. We have an additional goal of searching for any lost persons. Another goal is to support High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Initiative, Federal and State Narcotic Units as well as local narcotics task forces to stop the flow of narcotics in Harris County by locating contraband.

VISION

It is our vision to achieve all of our goals in a manner which is reflective of the high standards of the Harris County Sheriff's Office. We will make every effort to meet these goals with the greatest level of safety, security and professionalism, as is expected by the community which we serve.

The personnel assigned to the Canine Division are committed to providing highly effective, professional support services to all local law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of the citizens of Harris County. The Canine Division is under the command of Lieutenant J. Denholm and Sergeant D. Pierce.

The supervisory staff maintains a high level of professionalism and is committed to the safe and effective operation of the division. The division consists of twelve (12) canine teams. A canine team consists of a veteran patrol Deputy who was selected and has received intense training as a canine handler, and a specialized trained canine. The unit maintains its proficiency with continuous bi-weekly training. The Canine Division has 24-hour staffing 7 days a week.

The Canine Division responded to 1,129 canine calls for service in 2002. During these calls for service the canines located 3025 pounds of Marijuana, 45 kilograms of Cocaine, 1.03 kilograms of Methamphetamine, 5 firearms, 65 suspects and 1 lost person. As a result of the suspects located, 92 felonies and 45 misdemeanors, charges were filed. Also in 2002 the Canine Division preformed 40 public demonstrations to educate the citizens of Harris County.

1201 BAKER ST.
HOUSTON, TEXAS
77002