In addition, the SLED Bomb Squad consists of team members certified as Underwater Hazardous Device Technicians (UDT), Explosive Detection Dog Handlers (EDD), Breachers, Tactical Bomb Technicians (TBT), and subject matter experts (SMEs) in numerous specialized areas throughout the explosives industry. The Bomb Squad provides support and technical training to Federal, State and local law enforcement / public safety agencies in South Carolina and throughout the United States. The Bomb Squad also conducts routine proactive protective sweeps for special events, dignitary protection details, large gatherings, mass transit locations and other public safety venues. The SLED Bomb Squad responds to all types of explosives - related calls for service, such as improvised explosive devices (IED’s), Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) missions, explosives recoveries, military ordnance, bomb threats, and pyrotechnics. Each team tests for recertification annually. The K-9 Unit training includes a basic patrol school which includes obedience, officer protection, criminal apprehension, building search, evidence recovery, crowd control and tracking of wanted or missing individuals. The advantages to surrender are obvious the SWAT operators don’t have to risk entering a location and exposing themselves to the suspect or physically encountering the suspect. After deployment, the dog will locate and secure the suspect for the SWAT team. The K-9s are also used in SWAT operations as a deterrent to encourage a suspect to surrender before the dog is deployed. The K-9s are utilized in the apprehension of fugitives, wanted or escaped persons, tracking, crowd control, locating articles, public relations demonstrations, and other needs of the Division. In recent years, the team has added Belgian Malinois K-9s to the tracking team. Once the hounds make the team they are given a name, and are continually trained throughout their working lifetime. Out of eight to 10 pups in a litter, the team might keep 1 to 2. Instead, handlers use hair dye and paint numbers in their fur so that they can be graded throughout their training. Intense training of new pups, begins at 8 weeks old, and they are not given names immediately. Instead, the team takes bloodhounds and breed in redbone coonhound and blue tick hounds to give the dogs more stamina, and also make them stronger and more agile. The dogs utilized by SLED are not true bloodhounds. Throughout the years, the SLED Bloodhound Tracking Team has built a strong tradition of breeding and training the highest quality tracking dogs. SLED's Bloodhound Tracking Team started not long after the state police agency was founded in 1947. All members of the Tracking Team are also assigned to the SLED SWAT team with members serving on entry, sniper, and containment teams. The Tracking Team is supervised by a Lieutenant and 6 full time Special Agents. The Bloodhound Tracking Team is centrally located at SLED headquarters in Columbia for rapid deployment to all areas of the state. The team also promotes positive public relations throughout the state by conducting presentations to the community. The team provides K9s in support of SWAT and fugitive operations to include: apprehension, building search, tracking, and article search. The SLED Bloodhound Tracking Team is a specialized tactical unit that assists federal, state, county and municipal law enforcement in locating wanted and missing individuals by utilizing bloodhound-mix tracking dogs.
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