North Carolina State Highway Patrol (NCSHP), First Sergeant (Ret.)

Kevin Rittenhouse started his career at NCSHP within the Patrol’s Canine Unit in 1993. He was a canine handler for the Patrol until his canine’s retirement in 2001. During his tenure as a handler he instructed in all different aspects of canine handling and training throughout North Carolina.

Kevin was promoted to Sergeant in July 2002 and took over the position of Canine Training Coordinator for the Highway Patrol. Responsible for the selection and training of both canine and handler candidates, and setting up training sessions for the canine teams to comply with the standards set out by the policies of the Patrol.

Kevin has served on several canine handler selection boards not only for the Patrol but for outside agencies and testified on several occasions in State and Federal Court on the training and utilization of canines and canine teams.

Experience: 8 yrs as a K9 Handler and 6 yrs as an administrator running the K9 program for the Patrol.

Full time Deputy Sheriff John Bertuca has been training, handling, and certifying police K9 teams for Law Enforcement agencies for the last 20 years. John is the head trainer for his agency's K9 unit and assistant commander of the bomb squad.

Certified "Use of Force" Instructor and FBI Certified bomb technician.

Certified by the Illinois Police Officer Standards and Training Board as a police dog trainer.

Recognized as a police dog trainer by the Attorney General of Ohio.

Member of the USPCA, NPWDA, ILWDA, ITOA, and IABTI.

Trained in counter terror tactics in the U.S. and Israel.

Assisted in the development of training courses for the ATF Explosive Dog Detection Program.