Keysight Headquarters Goes to the Dogs -- For K-9 Officer Training

While walking through our headquarters campus recently, I heard dogs barking in close proximity. It was unusual given the expanse of the site, so I decided to investigate. As I rounded the corner toward our soccer field, I saw several police officers (human and canine) grouped together in what appeared to be organized training. At that moment I remembered a recent notice from our local Workplace Solutions (WPS) team informing us that the local police department would be utilizing our campus for K-9 officer training. I paused for a few minutes to watch, at a distance of course, the interaction between trainers, dogs and their "agitators" -- the people in protective gear that the dogs track and physically apprehend for practice. I was intrigued.

I later learned that before partnering with Keysight these trainings would occur at a public park. However, the presence of other dogs and people was not conducive to an optimal training environment due to the many distractions. As a result, an officer from the Santa Rosa Police Department reached out to a local Keysight employee who happened to be a friend of theirs to inquire about available space at our headquarters that they could use for training. With plenty of land, and the opportunity to support our local community, we offered Keysight's soccer field as a potential venue and it was a great match! We now have 4 different local-area police departments utilizing our campus each month for K-9 officer training.

The secluded venue of Keysight's campus has enabled the K-9 training teams to have a more robust program for the dogs, with fewer distractions. Officer Paetzold and his K-9 partner “Riko” stopped by recently and mentioned that the officers appreciate the use of our campus because the lack of distractions and interference helps improve their training. Officer Paetzold remarked that “it gives us an opportunity to train at a level we have not had recently.”

We are now in discussions with other police departments that are also interested in utilizing Keysight’s space for their training activities as well as considering opportunities for the training to expand to other portions of the campus. For example, the more wooded areas of the site could provide the opportunity to train the K-9 units on dense wooden area searches.

Keysight is happy to put our campus to good use by enabling the training of these units, and I personally look forward to seeing them again in action on our campus.