Folks: Garmin has just released the Astro 220 Dog tracking Gps system. we all laughed when we heard about it. We are not laughing anymore. Who would want to track the family dog? It’s not for the family dog. It was designed for hunters who use dogs. Turns out the hunter spends more time looking for the dog than actually hunting. another is the aussie sheepherders you like to track their dogs and predict herd movements. There are more serious applications for the system. One big one is Search and Rescue and the other is tracking K9 units in the field.
The unit works like this: A dc 20 transmitter is attached to a special dog harness and the harness is attached to the dog. the transmitter is activated. The astro 220 unit is a receiver and also a GPS unit. The unit points to the dog with a pointer on a compass screen or you can track the dog on the “map” page. You can have both City navigator and the Topographic software loaded on the unit. So it is useful whether you are on the streets or in the bush. The unit can be purchased “stand alone” without the DC 20 transmitter. This would be useful for back up units Tracking the same dog.
Here are some actual events that would of had a different outcome had the technology been available at the time:
Lakeland, Florida. 2007.. Officer down along with dog. Both shot to death. Back up units could not find them in time.
Had he had the astro on the dog, the back up team armed with their own Astro Stand alones could of found both in time to save there lives.
Detective Gene Prince of Hillsborough county Florida, relates this story to me: While in pursuit of a suspect in a high speed chase, Det. Prince caught up with the bad guy on some rural railroad tracks. The car was stuck on the tracks. The bad guy got out of the car and pointed a gun at Det Prince. At the same time his fellow officer, a K-9 specialist, released his dog. Detective Prince fired his weapon a shot the bad guy. the Very second that weapon fired the dog bolted. It took 3 hours to find the dog. Heres the bad thing. the K-9 dog has two modes: good dog and very bad dog. This is controlled by the handler. They switch them to bad dog mode, when they are chasing or attacking a bad guy. the dog was lost for 3 hours in a very bad mood. If he had encountered somebody while wandering around, that person would of been visciously atacked and injured. This would of opened up the department for a very big law suit.
So, if you’re a sheriff, and you want to protect your officers and your departemnt. give me a call 1-800-514-5571.
I will show you how it works. You other guys, tell your sheriff about it.
bj