Simi Valley Police Officer Vince Allegra and his K9 partner Rocco competed in the 21st annual Redondo Beach Police Canine Trails on May 9 and 10. The team won first place overall in the Novice Division.

This is the second year that Allegra and Rocco have competed as a team in the trials. In 2007 they won first place in Tactical Obedience.

Allegra has been a Simi Valley police officer for about 12 years and has been a K9 handler for the last eight years. Allegra and his first canine partner Hasko won awards at Redondo for five years as well as medals in the 2005 World Police and Fire Games in Canada.

The trials are the largest annual police canine competition in Southern California.

This year 28 teams from police departments throughout the state participated.

The competition evaluates the skills of police K9 teams in obedience, agility, narcotics detection, suspect searches, suspect apprehension and canine handler protection. The teams take part in scenarios based on real-world situations.