Missing Children Training

On March 31, 2006 the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office presented training to all supervisors within the agency on how to conduct the initial investigation on all cases concerning missing or abducted children. The emphasis was on how to properly secure the crime scene in order to preserve the scent of the child for use by the bloodhounds that may be transported to the scene of the crime. The training was conducted by retired Chicago investigator Bruce Walsted and bloodhound specialist Joe Canfield. Mr. Canfield is also a retired police officer with years of experience in the use of bloodhounds in investigative work. Both officers lectured on the importance of expediency in such cases with the most critical time being the first four hours of the child's disappearance. There were several demonstrations by Mr. Canfield's champion dog plus one by the one of the Australian Shepard's from Louisiana that is trained for locating individuals after a disaster.