K-9 Unit Pup Tracks Down Her First Suspect A Cabazon Prowler
CABAZON – A young Riverside Sheriff’s Department bloodhound earned her stripes this week, tracking and locating a prowler in Cabazon.
On Tuesday December 9 just after midnight, dispatch at the Riverside Sheriff’s Department received a call reporting a prowler in Cabazon. Deputies from the nearby station responded, arriving at the 60000 block of Range View Drive which is an unincorporated area of North Palm Springs.
The caller reported that she was startled by a man who had entered her backyard and was peering at her through her windows. The victim confronted the peeping Tom who then fled the scene. When deputies were unable to locate the suspect, they deployed a K-9 unit, a novice bloodhood “Windy”.
Deputy Ochoa directed the 9-month-old Windy who was immediately able to scent off the suspect’s footprints in the back yard. The young dog then followed the scent, tracking the suspect about a mile through desert and residential terrain.
Windy came to a halt at the end of the scent trail which had led her to the 15000 block of Oreana Way. Deputies were then able to identify the suspected prowler as Kent Browner, 24 years old of North Palm Springs. The suspect was loitering at a community pool. Browner was then taken into custody without incident. He was booked into Smith Correctional Facility.
Windy joined the department in May at just 9-weeks-old. Named, Windy, in a nod to the prevailing winds in Cabazon, her home station, she is off to an auspicious start. Deputy Ochoa and Windy work together every day and received their first tracking certification in October. The two have a tight bond and a strong working relationship which is critical to their success. In a sheriff’s announcement in May Captain Geoff Raya explained that, “Unlike their patrol canine counterparts, tracking Bloodhounds are not easily interchangeable and remain with the same canine handler throughout their working career.”
Windy has shown a great deal of success tracking, but this was her first suspect find. To celebrate her success Deputy Ochoa treated her to a cheeseburger from the nearby In-N-Out. Undoubtedly, Windy can look forward to many more cheeseburgers in her future.
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KESQ: Bloodhound tracks down prowler
