Get Local | West Delray Community Blog | Citizen’s Police Academy, Thursday August 21, 6:30-9:30 PM

District 6 Sheriff’s Captain Martin Bechtel hosted the second session of the Citizen’s Academy at District 6 Headquarters, Jog road, Boynton Beach. It was an evening packed with information and demonstrations by the brave deputies who protect us every day.

First speaker was Bomb & Arson Squad Detective William Atkinson. Assisting him was Deputy Udell. Det. Atkinson explained the intensive training they go such as 150 hours to be certified for hazardous material handling. The group then went outside for demonstrations of the department’s robot and the safety equipment they wear when on a bomb investigation. The helmet weights 12 lbs.; the jacket about 60.

Next demonstration was given by Sheriff’s Deputy Beth Goldweber who is assigned to traffic patrol in her cruiser. She showed how tickets are printed out right in her cruiser; how she can access records on the computer and how she uses her radar gun to clock speeders.

The final event of the evening was a demonstration of K-9 dogs and their handlers. K-9 Deputy Luis Ledbetter of the K-9 Unit stated that there about 50 dogs in the program. All were German Shepard’s, except for the 3 bloodhounds in the unit. All the Shepards are imported from overseas at a cost of 7 to $9,000. All dogs are male, with one exception. Each dog and deputy goes through 480 hours of training. It takes about one year to train the dog and his deputy handler. Each dog has one handler with whom he stays for his entire lifetime. The dogs have a 12 to 13 year life span and work for about 7 years. At the end of a dog’s tour they have a value of between $8,500 to $100,000, dependant on the work they have done such as explosives, narcotics.

Captain Bechtel was greeted happily by Deputy Ledbettter's bloodhound "Clue."

Deputy Frend introduced us to Falco, his German Shepard. Falco used a grassy open space adjacent to the parking lot to have Falco demonstrate his obedience to Frend’s commands,