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Jan Scofield – HRD Land
Jan Scofield was born and brought up in upstate New York. In 1969 he went to work the Yates County Sheriff George Spike in his hometown of Penn Yan New York. He worked in several different areas within the department & was elected Sheriff of Yates County in 1982.
Jan started training bloodhounds, patrol dogs, & detector dogs during his time in that department. He initiated the department’s first patrol dog program. Also during his time at the Sheriff’s Office he became a master trainer for the North American Police Work Dog Association & National Trainer & Certifying Official for the National Narcotic Detector Dog Association.
Jan retired from the Sheriff’s Office in 1991 and accepted a position as Canine Specialist with EG&G of Florida at the Kennedy Space Center in 1992. While at the space center he handled and trained ordnance & drug detector dogs. In 1998 he left the Space Center to join the Titusville Police Department and retired from there on January 11, 2013. While at Titusville Police Department he was in charge of the four member K9 unit.
Jan and his wife Marsha still reside in Titusville Florida.
Lisa Higgins – HR Water
In 1978, Lisa started with Pearl River P.D. as a mounted officer and completed her thirty year run with St. Tammany Sheriff’s Office mounted as well as SAR canine. She was in the Special Operations Division from 1991 through 2008.
Lisa is co-founder of LaSAR, is a member of NSDA, and a member of NNCDS, serving on the advisory board. She is qualified as a “Subject Matter Expert” in canine body recovery in New Orleans Criminal Courts. Lisa was a member of the Federal DMORT Region VI Team and has served as a civilian contractor with the FBI on the Victim Recovery Team. She has co-authored several articles and a book chapter on water search and recovery.
Greg Cole – HR Land
Greg began his law enforcement and dog training career upon joining the United States Air Force in 1976. A graduate of the DOD Dog Training Center in 1977, he subsequently served as a security policeman and K9 handler at Loring Air Force Base, 42 Bomb Wing, Strategic Air Command. He handled 3 different patrol dogs and gained his first experiences with narcotics and explosive detection dogs.
After working a year as the dog trainer at Thunder Bay Inc. in Clearwater, Florida, he and his family moved to Gulf County Florida in 1984. In 1985 he trained and handled the county’s first police dog in the fields of patrol, tracking, area search, evidence recovery, building search, and narcotics detection, thus establishing the county’s first K9 unit. He also served as a school resource officer, DARE officer, narcotics and criminal investigator, patrol supervisor, trainer and training coordinator, a founding officer of the department’s Honor Guard and was a founding officer of the department’s SWAT team serving as assistant team leader and firearms instructor.
As the K9 trainer and supervisor he maintained charge of a six dog team unit and trained a total of fifteen K9 teams for the Department. His dog teams maintained state and national standards in fields spanning patrol, tracking, building and area search, article search/evidence recovery, vehicle search, narcotics and human remains detection. All his K9 teams maintained certifications through organizations such as the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA), the North American Police Work Dog Association (NAPWDA), and the National Narcotics Detector Dog Association (NNDDA).
Greg was also called upon to assist in the training of many other local and state agencies’ K9 units and is a Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) K9 Subject Matter Expert (SME). He also serves as the police K9 operations trainer and adviser for the Gulf Coast State College Criminal Justice program. Greg retired his law enforcement commission in 2013. He entered into the realm of search and rescue in 2005 training his 2 Labrador Retrievers as specialty human remains detection canines, working land and water. Serving the law enforcement and civilian communities, both dogs became known for their successes in the field.
In 2009, Greg and his dog Maximus were recognized for their performance in the field by the United States Army, while serving the military in the search for their missing in Iraq.
Greg is a member of the KLaasKIDS Foundation Search Center for missing and trafficked children, serving as a K9 handler and K9 instructor. Greg has received an award from the foundation in recognition of steadfast dedication and perseverance in his work to stop crimes against children. Greg continues to serve local, state, and national organizations as a K9 handler, instructor, and evaluator. He is an instructor for the Western Carolina University (WCU) advanced cadaver dog program. Greg is also a K9 instructor/evaluator and serves on the board as 2nd VP for the National Network of Canine Detection Services (NNCDS). Greg is currently training his third personal dog in search and rescue and human remains detection.
Heather Suedkamp – HRD Land
Heather Suedkamp is the training director for DarkShotK-9 which she and her husband own. Their business primarily focuses on selling and training detection and trailing dogs to agencies. Heather assists her location police department training their narcotics detection dogs and provides private training in obedience, socialization, and conditioning.
Heather is active in several SAR organizations as an instructor, evaluator and board member. In addition to past positions with other organizations, currently she is on the board of National Network of Canine Detection Services “NNCDS”, where she also serves as an instructor and evaluator, an instructor and evaluator for Indiana Department of Homeland Security “IDHS”, an instructor for Search Dog Organization of North America “SDONA” and serves as a guest instructor for several other organizations throughout the year.
Heather and her dogs have completed missions in and held multiple national certifications in land cadaver recovery, water cadaver recovery, disaster, area search, and trailing. She currently handles canines DeNA who is a HRD dog and Keeper who is cross trained in Trailing and HRD.
Heather lives in Kentucky with her husband Jason, who is also a K-9 handler and instructor, along with five working dogs and a fluctuating population of puppies and dogs in training. She enjoys photography when she can find a spare moment and eye.