Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Hello! I am highly interested in becoming a Police K9 trainer (not a handler), and had some questions.

1- Do you have to go through Police academy to get into this work?
2- What does it require physically?
3- How high in demand is this job? Is it realistic to attempt to do?
4- Does anyone know about the average salary?

I have big dreams of becoming a Police K9 trainer and if anyone knows anything and can help me out I would sincerely appreciate it! Thanks! :)

Usually, departments that have assigned canine trainers draw from the experienced officers and assign them as trainers. I'm not aware of any department (that doesn't mean it doesn't exist) that has a civilian assigned just as a dog trainer. Police departments often bye dogs from vendors that are often civilians. They usually have retired or ex law enforcement members training with them. Once a dog is purchased, it's still a matter of teaching some of the technical skills in the utilization of a PSD. IT would take someone with some police experience to have that knowledge to teach it at the level an officer would need, on the street.

DFrost