49 S3 EP 49 Sway, Steven and Paul Curtis

Dogs of War

Paul E. Curtis was a nineteen (19) year veteran of the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO). In 2002,
Curtis became the only K9 handler for LCSO where he and his K9 partner were assigned to a patrol unit
and provided drug detection, tracking, and patrol K9 services. In 2004, Curtis and his K9 partner were
transferred to the narcotics unit and continued to provide the same services. In 2006, he was assigned to
the FBI Drug Task Force/ Knoxville Division where he provided, investigative services, drug detection,
tracking, K9 support for SWAT and patrol K9 services. That same year he was appointed
supervisor/trainer for the department’s 3 team unit that expanded to 4 teams in 2007. In 2010, Curtis was
appointed the director of the LCSO narcotics unit, where he was responsible for the day-to-day operation
of the unit's drug investigations and preparing cases for state and federal prosecution. He also managed
four (4) police service dog teams for LCSO. Curtis provided K9 support to the FBI Knoxville Division
for nine (9) years. In July 2017, Curtis went to work for the Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) as the
K9 Unit Program Manager for a unit that consisted of eighteen (18) K9 teams. All KCSO teams were dual
purpose with four (4) of them being explosive / patrol K9 teams. Curtis managed in-house training and
training services that included canine selection, train the trainer courses, handler courses, in-service
training, and maintenance training for KCSO and other area agencies. Curtis hosted and instructed at least
one police service dog seminar per year with twenty-five (25) to thirty-five (35) K9 teams in attendance
since 2011. In July of 2019, Curtis started the company, Sniff Industries, in pursuit of excellence in K9
products and training. Sniff Industries manufactures and sells one-of-a-kind detection training equipment
for all types of detection purposes. This equipment was patented in 2014 and became available to the K9
industry in 2019. Curtis also provides training and consulting services in a variety of K9 applications in
the law enforcement and private sectors.
Paul E Curtis was a United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) certified trainer for substance
detection training and patrol services training. He is also an International Forensic Research Institute
(IFRI) certified instructor for drug detection. Curtis was a National Narcotic Detector Dog Association
(NNDDA) certifying official in drug detection and patrol. He was a licensed DEA K9 researcher for 12
years and has accumulated over twenty thousand (20,000) documented hours of Police Service Dog
training. He has trained or co-trained more than two hundred (200) dogs in fields of drug detection,
explosive detection, accelerant detection, wildlife detection, cadaver detection, tracking, evidence search,
building search, area search, obedience, tactical obedience, criminal apprehension, and/or agility.