Texas DPS outlines expansion of long-range canine tracking program after border deployments and rescues

Lieutenant Boyd Lamb, lead of the Department of Public Safety's tracking program, told the Public Safety Commission on Dec. 1 that the unit has expanded from six handlers in 2022 to 14 and is being trained for longer, backcountry tracks to locate people who evade law enforcement and to support search-and-rescue operations.

The presentation outlined the program's origins and training: initial training began in April 2022, handlers were certified after a six-week pre-training and subsequent longer schools, and the agency later added a canine specialist and a Backcountry Tactical Tracking training course run with federal partners. "We graduated our first tracking handler July 8, 2022," Lamb said, describing an evolution from short patrol tracking to sustained visual and scent tracking over miles.

Lamb said the program recorded 478 deployments and more than 704 apprehensions from August 2022 to June 2024. He described several operational highlights: locating a missing 39-year-old man with special needs after about two and a half hours in 100-degree heat; a multiday 10.85-mile track that used mounted patrol and thermal drone support; and captures of vehicle-theft suspects who fled into brush. "One of the greatest things about our tracking program" is that it both locates suspects and rescues vulnerable people, Lamb said.

Program training and structure were central to Lamb's presentation. After initial classes and outside vendor support, DPS developed an in-house 10-week handler school that combines two weeks of department standards with eight weeks of discipline-specific training. The agency hired a canine specialist to maintain and train dogs and has run multiple schools since 2023. Lamb also described a visual-tracking curriculum designed so handlers can continue tracking if a dog is lost or incapacitated.

Looking ahead, Lamb said DPS plans to expand the program beyond South Texas by adding teams in other regions and pairing handlers with medics and drone operators for rapid deployment via agency aviation assets. "What these teams are gonna consist of is two handlers, a couple of medics, and a couple of drone operators," he said, describing a configuration intended to support both criminal-apprehension and search-and-rescue missions.

Commissioners praised the program's rapid development. Commissioner Blair, who moved to adopt minutes earlier in the meeting, later commented on the program's growth; Commissioner Long and others noted the difficulty of building canine programs from scratch. Colonel Martin, the department's colonel and director, said the program's successes include both criminal apprehensions and lifesaving rescues.

The commission did not take formal action on the tracking program in this meeting; Lamb's presentation was part of the director's report. Commissioners asked about future staffing and training; Lamb reiterated plans to grow the number of handler teams and to use aviation and drone assets for wider statewide coverage.

The presentation included video evidence of tracks supported by thermal drones and mounted patrol. Lamb credited individual handlers and an outside vendor, Pacesetter K9 in Liberty Hill, for helping establish training standards and the in-house curriculum.

Lamb closed by noting that the program has repeatedly demonstrated value beyond border work, citing both criminal apprehensions and rescues among its outcomes. "This really makes the tracking program worth it," he said, referring to the rescue of the missing hiker.