The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) unveiled the newest additions to their family Tuesday—four 15 week-old bloodhound puppies.
The puppies come from a litter of ten that were born in December.
The SLED Tracking Team trains the four pups several times a week.
The dogs are tested in various environments to see if they can withstand and properly adapt to scenarios.
Captain John Bishop says, “This process determines their abilities. We run and hide and leave our scent behind in the woods and see if they can find us. We make it as real as a normal call when we have to locate a criminal. They go through every terrain we do when we train such as creeks, ponds, lakes, woods, dirt, swamps, pavement and concrete.”
The hope is the animals will pass the test and officially become part of the Tracking Team as several other generations of SLED bloodhounds have done for years.
In 2008, The SLED Tracking Team was requested 137 times by various law enforcement agencies across South Carolina and helped apprehend 58 suspects.
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