First let me start off by getting the credits out of the way.
There are two books that are worth reading and I would not recommend that anyone start tracking without reading them first. Most of the other books that you might find out there are usually poor attempts at reproducing the knowledge and information already provided by the authors listed below. In my humble opinion, these two guys are the first and last word on the subject. Of course, if anyone can turn me on to another author whom I've not yet read, I'm open.
#1 - Tom Brown's Field Guide To Nature Observation and Tracking. By Tom Brown Jr.
#2 - Tracking: A Blueprint for Learning How. By Jack Kearney.
It's always good to know some background about a person before you take their word for anything.
I don't pretend to know everything about tracking. You read my pages and decide for yourself.
I've been a police officer for 24 years and have been working with and training police dogs and
handlers for over 22 years. I won't exaggerate and give you some outrageous number of tracks
I've conducted over my career. I don't keep count. Certainly, after 22 years of tracking with and without dogs, I may have some experience and knowledge to pass on. The information here is the
same material I teach at the U.S.P.C.A. Region 15, "Advanced Tracking Course". The only problem
here is that I can’t give you the one on one, on-hands training.
Having said that, let’s get down to business.
In most of the suburban areas of New Jersey, when a crime is committed, the police officers
responding have approximately 45 to 60 minutes to catch the suspect. Longer than that, they more
than likely won't catch them. The reasons are as follows: There are not enough officers to set up a perimeter around the crime scene area big enough to contain a suspect for more than 45 minutes.
Longer than that and the suspect has either gotten to his own car, grabbed a taxi, or just walked out undetected. In addition to this, it's difficult to control the pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area, thus contamination occurs. Because of these facts, I have combined the skills of a "K9 tracker"
and a "Man tracker" and have used these methods successfully for the past 22 years. I call it a "SPLATTER TRACK". If you’ve read Tom Brown Jr., then you can appreciate why I named it
“splatter tracking”.
MAN (VISUAL) TRACKING: The art of visually following the trail of an animal by the
disturbance he creates as he passes through.
K9 TRACKING: The art of using a canine's olfactory senses to follow the trail of an animal
by the disturbance he creates as he passes through.
SPLATTER TRACKING : The art of combining both Visual and K9 Tracking to follow the trail
of an animal by the disturbance he creates as he passes through.
And put the "Habeas Grabeas" on him!
It's not my intention to teach "K9 tracking" or "Man tracking" at this point. They are both skills which can only be acquired through diligence and many, many hours of practice. This information is of no value to an amateur in either field. So, do the homework and start practicing. All of the information that
I will supply is intended to make the tracker more proficient at catching the bad guys.
O.K., let's see if I can give you a good written explanation of the concept of Splatter Tracking.
Most Police K9 trainers like myself, will tell their students to follow their dogs no matter what,
and never second-guess your dog! This provides the best statistical results for a successful
apprehension. The reason being, is that a well trained Police Dog has an average success
rate of about 85% when tested under controlled circumstances. This only works when the handler
has complete faith in the dog and allows the dog to do his job. The 15 % failure rate is most often
the fault of the handler who has failed to read his partner correctly and inadvertently misdirected
the dog from his desired course. You K9 guys know exactly what I'm talking about. Now, if we allow
the handler to make a decision while on the track, who at best, has a 50% chance of making a
"left or right" decision, the success rate becomes his 50% of the dogs 85%, which translates into
a 42.5% success rate. With this ammunition, you may as well send the guy without the dog!
Crime scenes are never perfect and circumstances are seldom favorable. There will be times when
your dog is tracking like a vacuum cleaner and then all of the sudden, he stops and you can't get
him started again. There are all kinds of tricks we try to use, like taking the dog back to a point
where you were sure he was strong on the track, or doing the outward spiral to see if he can pick
up the missed turn. But, sometimes your dog just can't figure it out! Or, the scent just isn't there anymore. And we all know, the dogs don't have ESP, and I usually leave my crystal ball in
my other pants!
So, what to do... What to do!
Now, here is the part where I start splitting hairs.
For the experienced handler, there comes a time when he has to make d decision because his
K9 partner has stalled and all of those tricks aren’t working either. Remember, you only have
45 to 60 minutes from the initial incident to catch the bad guy, the clock's ticking and if
you're like me, you hate to give up!
"Splatter Vision" is something I picked up from Tom Brown Jr. In short, it is the concept of
looking at the horizon and allowing your vision to not quite focus on anything. What this does is
widen your range of view. Any motion within your range of view now becomes more obvious.
When motion is detected, you focus in, identify the source of the motion and then return to the wide-angle view. With very little practice, I have found it has become second nature and it
really serves well in police work.
I have been using splatter vision successfully since my early days in K9. As my technique improved,
I found that this concept could also be applied to things other than just motion. Nature is very
unique in that you seldom find natural patterns occurring on the ground. For instance, an animal
track, a human footprint, or a tire track is not natural patterns. So, I have incorporated the
splatter vision into the K9 track and use it to identify unnatural patterns while I'm following my
K9 partner. The reason for doing this is so that I can keep some kind of an idea, a mental note as
to who the dog is tracking. Now if the K9 comes up short, it's my turn to fill in the holes until
my partner can pick up the scent.
I know, the great "TRACKING GODS" are going crazy over the idea that I'm bordering on
the act of a mortal sin, "SKIP TRACKING"! Well, this isn't skip tracking. This is
"K9 TAG TEAM TRACKING"!
Basically what you are doing is sign cutting, (visually tracking), while you're following your
K9 partner who is scent tracking. This allows the team to cover a greater distance in less time
and still stay on the track. Along with this I have some statistical information to lean on when
things get really difficult.
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All of the information on my web site may be used by anyone who uses it
to further the cause of Law Enforcement or Search & Rescue.
But,
Please give credit where credit is due!