USPCA History

The United States Police Canine Association became the largest and oldest active organization of its kind-"Ever Striving for the Betterment of all Police K-9" - in August, 1971 when two existing Associations, the Police K-9 Association and the United States K-9 Association, merged.

The original Florida Police K-9 Association, formed in 1964, was later changed to the Police K-9 Association in order to include other interested departments outside the section of the country established by the United Police K-9 Association.

It didn't take too long before the members of these two fine organizations realized that strength was in unity and that their basic goals and objectives were the same. So the present Association was formed. Membership is spreading throughout the United States, Canada, and with the Armed Forces, throughout the world.

The Association meets twice a year. Once, in Summer, where new ideas and training methods are discussed, and then at the National Police Dog Trials. These dog trials bring together the best trained dogs in the world and are judged by Police judges. Great strides in the standardization of training methods have been made through these dog trials.

The General Nature of the Objectives and Purposes of this Association:

• To unite in a common cause all law enforcement agencies utilizing the services of the canine as an aid in the prevention and detection of crime.
• To promote friendship and brotherhood between all those interested in the training and utilization of the canine in police work.
• To endeavor to establish a minimum working standard, and improve the abilities of the canine in police work, thereby rendering better service to the community.
• To establish and maintain a legal assistance fund for acts resulting in civil suits from the use of police trained canines.
• To coordinate the exchange of any advanced techniques of training of the utilization of police dogs.
• To improve the image of the working police dog to the populace in general through improved public service in the prevention and detection of crime.
• To aid and assist those law enforcement agencies making application for information concerning the establishment of canine sections within their respective departments.