Auto Accidents - The Advocates

Meet the Unified Police Department K-9 Unit

A police officer kneels next to his K-9 German Shepherd

k-9 Unit On March 13th this year, police departments and military units across the country honored K-9 Veteran’s Day. This holiday commemorates working dogs’ service throughout the American history. To help pay tribute to these dedicated dogs, Advocate attorney Chris Thresher sat down with Sergeant Ryan Watson and his K-9 partner Cash during our Community Advocates segment on Good Things Utah. Sgt. Watson explained the role of the UPD’s K-9 Unit and answered some frequently asked questions to help the community become better acquainted with the law enforcement teams that serve our community.

Who Are Sergeant Watson and Cash?

Sgt. Watson has been a police officer for nearly 20 years, with experience in patrol, detective work, and SWAT. He joined the UPD’s K-9 Unit about seven years ago. As the unit supervisor and lead trainer, he oversees five K-9 teams. He cites K-9 work as his favorite assignment of his career, finding it both challenging and rewarding.

Cash is a seven-year-old German Shepherd. He and Sgt. Watson have been working together since Cash was one year old. Cash is a dual-purpose K-9, meaning that he is trained to locate illegal substances as well as apprehend suspects. He uses his sense of smell to detect both narcotics and humans in a variety of places, including vehicles, buildings, fields, and neighborhoods.
In 2020, Sgt. Watson and Cash were recognized by Friends for UPD K-9 as the UPD K-9 Team of the Year. They work together to lead the unit with dedication, collaboration, and high professional standards.

What Does the K-9 Unit Do?

K-9 officers are both police officers and trained dog handlers. Each officer is paired with a canine partner, who is trained in-house by the UPD. Police dogs live with their handlers, and the handler makes sure the dog is properly trained, cared for, and healthy. Cash is part of the Watson family, and he enjoys time off at home just as much as Sgt. Watson does. K-9s know when they are working and when they are off duty, meaning they are perfectly safe around children and strangers. In fact, playing with people and other dogs helps the K-9s gain important social skills.
The duties of K-9s are varied, depending on the unit. Police dogs can be trained to track down illegal substances, explosives, missing persons, and bodies. K-9s can also assist in day-to-day operations, such as traffic stops or emergencies. The UPD K-9 Unit works a graveyard shift from 6:00 pm to 4:00 am every night. The teams can also be called out during daytime hours.
Our UPD K-9 Unit is also active in community events. Over the last several years, the UPD has participated in the Festival of Trees, the Soldier Hollow Sheepdog Championships, and in many police dog demonstrations for schools, church groups, and businesses. The teams enjoy holding these demonstrations because they are effective learning tools for the public, and the officers appreciate the chance to interact with community members.

How Does a Dog Become a Police K-9?

Not just any dog can work as a police dog. A K-9 needs to have specific personality traits, as well as physical attributes. Most of the dogs on the UPD K-9 team are German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, or mixes of the two breeds. These dogs are herding breeds that are highly loyal. They were acquired from a variety of countries across Europe, including Germany, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.
Before the UPD’s dogs could begin police work, they had to undergo rigorous physical checks and temperament tests to ensure they were able to reliably perform the job of a K-9.
At around one or two years of age, the dogs are ready to begin training with our UPD officers. The dogs train full-time for several months to become certified for police work. After they are certified, they continue to train daily until retirement. The UPD’s K-9s work regularly on obedience, endurance, agility, and specialty training.
The UPD has both single-purpose and dual-purpose K-9s. Like Cash, dual-purpose K-9s are trained in two areas of police work—narcotic detection and suspect apprehension. Single-purpose dogs are only trained in one of these areas.
After seven or eight years of service, K-9s usually retire. In most cases, the dog will continue to live with his handler after retirement. The UPD’s dogs are truly part of their handler’s families.

Who Are the Friends of UPD K-9?

Friends of UPD K-9 is a non-profit organization that helps support the K-9 unit. They raise money to help the teams with a variety of expenses. First and foremost, they assist the UPD with purchasing service animals, as the dogs are typically in high demand. They also help provide ballistic vests, paw protection, harnesses, leashes, and more for the K-9s. Additionally, “Friends” gives the K-9 teams the opportunity to attend and host trainings throughout Utah. The organization also helps supplement medical care for retired K-9s.
The Friends of UPD K-9 accept donations through their website or by mail. Their mailing address is 2376 Cinnabar Lane, Salt Lake City, Utah 84121. Their website also provides more information about the K-9 unit, including spotlights on the five other UPD K-9 partnerships.
The Advocates would like to express our sincere thanks to the Unified Police Department K-9 teams for their service. We appreciate their dedication and commitment to the safety and wellbeing of our communities.

5 Steps to Take During Your Injury Case

Construction worker accident with a construction worker.

Filing a personal injury claim can feel overwhelming without the right legal guidance. Don’t worry. The Advocates are here to help make the process easier for you so you can focus on recovering.
The steps provided below are designed to help make your personal injury case go more smoothly. These tips outline critical components of the claims process that can ultimately determine the outcome of your case.
If you or a loved one were recently injured in an accident, it’s important that you use the following tips to help strengthen your personal injury claim.

What Steps Can Help Strengthen Your Personal Injury Case?

1.Call an Experienced Attorney Right Away

Working with an experienced attorney can help you receive up to 3x more in compensation than if you go it alone. This statistic holds true across many different areas of law, especially with personal injury cases. When working with The Advocates, we will ultimately fight for your legal rights until you receive maximum compensation for your accident.
Our attorneys know the ins and outs of personal injury law and will work diligently to help you get the recovery you deserve. You can count on our legal team to fight for compensation for your medical bills, lost wages and other damages. The Advocates provide a free, no obligation consultation so you should contact our office right away.

2. Only Speak with Your Attorney About Your Case

Whether you’ve been contacted by a claims adjuster or simply have questions about your case, you should keep communication strictly between you and your attorney. Oftentimes, defense lawyers and insurance companies will misinterpret your discussions which can potentially compromise your case.
Your attorney is there to support you and be your legal guide through this difficult time. You have a right to ask questions about your case and The Advocates are here to answer them for you.

3. Don’t Post About Your Case on Social Media

Even if you’ve already submitted your injury claim and your case is still pending, you should avoid posting on social media. The at-fault party’s legal team and insurance company will likely look for posts and online content that can diminish the seriousness of your case. Keep in mind that anything you post on social media, such as Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, can be taken out of context and used to hurt your legal claim.

4. Continue Going to Your Doctor Appointments

If you were injured in accident due to another person’s negligence, you must continue going to your medical appointments. When you fail to show up to your appointments, the party responsible for your injuries may suggest to the insurance company that your injuries aren’t as serious as you claim them to be.
You should also be completely honest with your doctor about your symptoms. This information can only solidify the severity of your injuries.

5. Fight for Maximum Compensation

Insurance companies are notoriously known for offering settlement amounts for far less than you are rightfully owed. Settling your case too soon means that you will not be fairly compensated for your injuries and losses.
Let The Advocates negotiate with insurance for you and get you the justice you deserve. Don’t wait. Contact our office today at 801-657-4604 or use the chat form fill on our homepage.

Top 4 Safety Issues with Airbags

Did you know that a collision occurs every 60 seconds? According to the CDC, motor vehicles accidents are one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
Over the last 30 years, car manufacturers have worked vigorously to develop the safest features for drivers and passengers alike. One of the most important safety features includes airbags. In fact, frontal airbags have helped reduce fatal collisions by 29%.
While they certainly save lives when they work properly, airbags have also been known to cause serious injuries. Whether an airbag fails to deploy at the right time or simply doesn’t deploy at all, these safety errors can cause serious, if not fatal, injuries.
In the following article, we’ll discuss 4 common safety issues with airbags and what you should do if you were injured by a defective airbag.

What Can Go Wrong with Airbags?

airbags Let’s take a look at how airbags are deployed in the first place.
When a vehicle strikes another object, it loses speed very rapidly. In those brief moments that your vehicle decelerates, an accelerometer (which is an electric chip that measures speed or force) detects this quick change. If the change in speed is drastic enough, then the airbag is triggered.
Sometimes this can go wrong, and when it does the results can be damaging. Here are the 4 most common airbag defects you should know about:

Airbags can fail to deploy
Airbags can deploy at the wrong time
One airbag might deploy, but not all of them
Airbags can release too aggressively

Any type of airbag defect can be dangerous. If an airbag fails to deploy, there’s essentially nothing stopping the driver or passenger from suffering severe whiplash, or worse. In other instances, like deploying at the wrong time or too aggressively, these errors can cause significant injuries to the face or head.

Common Airbag-Related Injuries

A defective airbag deployment can cause of range of injuries to the body. The speed of airbag deployment, chemicals used in the device and the timing all play significant roles in airbag-related injuries.
Here are several types of injuries caused by a defective airbag:

Abrasions to the upper part of the body
Burns to the hands, arms and chest
Bone fractures to the skull, face, arms and wrists
Damage to the lungs
Spine injuries
Traumatic brain injuries
Eye injuries

As you can see, any one of these injuries can range from being relatively minor to very severe. If you’ve suffered any type of airbag injury, you may be wondering what your legal rights are to recover compensation for your injuries and losses.

How Can I Sue for Airbag Injuries?

The most important thing you should if you were injured in an accident is call the police and seek medical treatment right away. Once you are safe, you will want to speak with an injury attorney about your collision.
Any injuries due to a defective airbag warrant a rightful legal claim against the car manufacturer or airbag brand. Give us a call today and we’ll go over your legal rights with you. You can call our office at 801-326-0809 or chat with us on our homepage.