RED HOUSE, N.Y. — After 15 consecutive years, the National Police Bloodhound Association’s (NPBA) spring seminar will no longer be held at Allegany State Park.
NPBA officials have announced on their website that this year’s seminar will be moved to Maryland, a previous location for the event.
“What it boils down to is the board of the organization voted to try a different location, and it’s that simple,” said Gary Quattrone, a park manager at Allegany State Park. “I don’t think it had anything to do with being unhappy with us, it may have just been that Maryland was more centrally located for a national event. They have been happy with us for years.”
Multiple e-mails sent to NPBA members seeking comment were not returned.
The event brought police handlers, instructors and their K-9 bloodhounds to the park from all over the country for a weeklong training seminar. Attendees participated in various classroom seminars and hands-on drills, including trailing an individual who acts as someone who is lost or fleeing a scene.
Meals and some of their activities would be hosted at Camp Allegany off ASP Route 2 near Red House Lake. During the day, training exercises were held throughout the park and its surrounding area, including in Bradford, Pa.
One day would be set aside as public and media day during the seminar to demonstrate certain team exercises, an opportunity that will be especially missed by park staff.
“We’re sad that they’re not coming —that was always one of our favorite groups that came in. We got to experience a little more than the public because the handlers couldn’t let the public have too much interaction with the dogs,” Quattrone said. “We got to see the inside of them working with the dogs, running around, and we looked forward to it every year. They were a wonderful organization to work with. It’s a personal loss for us, and we hate to see them go.”
Although the park will no longer see the rather large group, the event didn’t bring much in the way of tourism, as it was only open to the public one day, Quattrone explained. He added that this news does leave that week in May open for Camp Allegany, and he doesn’t expect it to stay vacant.
“(The NPBA) kind of had a standing reservation for that facility, and now that time period is open,” Quattrone said. “Camp Allegany is really popular with organizations such as that group for meetings and training and stuff like that. We’ve only got the one camp, and we can’t always accommodate everybody so I guess this gives us some wiggle room. I don’t expect it to sit there empty.”
