About East Metro K-9 Services

Owner and Master Patrol Trainer, Shawn Debler started his law enforcement career in 1998. He has spent the last 25 years working as a SWAT operator and Patrol K-9 Handler with one of the larger agencies in the state of Oregon. 

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In 2004, Shawn began his career as a full-time Patrol K-9 Handler. During his career, he has worked 5 different patrol dogs ranging from titled European dogs to “green” dogs with little to no training.

Shawn fell in love with the training of patrol dogs and their handlers and in 2008 became a Patrol Trainer for the Oregon Police Canine Association. Then, he rewrote how his agency trained dog teams and developed the agencies’ 6-8 week Patrol K-9 Academy’s curriculum. He has run over 20 academies, training successful dog teams throughout the state of Oregon. Shawn also brought cross trained dual-purpose dogs to his agency and was the first to deploy a patrol dog that held a state certification in narcotics detection.

Shawn became a dual K-9/SWAT operator in 2001 and has been an active member of the team since. He was the first fully integrated handler/operator in the team’s history and has trained all the dog teams that have served on the team since. 

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The members of the Oregon Police Canine Association elected Shawn as the Patrol Canine Chairperson. He held that role for 6 years and authored the current Patrol Team certification processes, and the Non-apprehension dog team track / trailing certification process. He was also responsible for planning and supervising the biannual training seminars, which involved 30 to 40 hours of training for 70 to 100 dog teams.

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Shawn is a Master Patrol Trainers with the OPCA and plays a very active role with patrol teams throughout the state.