By Lauren Wanko
Correspondent
K-9 Falco thinks he’s searching for his toy, but he’s really on the hunt for explosives. The four-legged team member’s a part of the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit.
“In our mind it’s work. In their mind it’s play,” said Officer Kurt Kroeper.
Falco’s one of six K-9s in the unit. Each dog works full time with their handler — a sheriff’s officer. Teams include narcotics, tracking, explosive detection, explosive and patrol and narcotics and patrol. Patrol dogs are trained in disciplines like apprehension.
When the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office is selecting a dog, they look for an energetic one like Falco that has a high play drive. The dogs go through a 12- to 14-week scent training program and if they’re cross trained in patrol, that’s an additional 16 to 18 weeks before they graduate.
Scent dogs are trained with a towel, which is rolled up. It starts with a game of fetch and tug of war.
“We do this over and over again and the dog and handler are building a bond together, a friendship,” said Officer James Fay.
Then they’re taught to identify the scents. For explosive dogs that’s anywhere from 18 to 23 different orders; seven for narcotics dogs.
“Then depending on what dog’s gonna be trained in where it’s narcotics, explosives, we’re gonna take a bunch of towels, roll it up, throw it in a big Ziploc bag. Then we are going to take whatever odor it is that we want to train that dog in and put it in a little Ziploc bag and put that little Ziploc bag in the big Ziploc,” said Fay.
The towels will absorb the odor. The dogs continue to play tug of war with it in training and associate the scents with play. Eventually in the field once the dog identifies that scent he expects a reward, which is the towel. They’re taught to sit when they smell the scent, alerting the officer that they found something.
After graduation, the K-9s continue in-service training exercises each month. The dogs typically work clockwise around a room.
“They’re pulling us. Their noses will go wherever their handler tells their nose to go,” said Kroeper.
As for the narcotics team, the K-9s have helped seize more than $1.5 million in cash as a result of numerous drug investigations.
“They can cut down on an immense amount of manpower. We can spend hours trying to locate drugs hidden in a building. You can have a dog do it in about 20 minutes,” said Undersheriff Michael Donovan.
Other dogs are taught to apprehend — on command only. Notice Ari first told to pursue this officer. Then he’s told to back down.
“The patrol dogs are taught to apprehend, not bite, so their apprehension is to hold and not let go,” explained Officer Jay Aretino.
Bloodhound Skye is the newest member of the team. She’s a man-trailing canine.
“Bloodhounds are scent specific. They will only track a person they are looking for,” said Kroeper.
Skye’s already helped police locate two suspects, which led to their arrests. As for Falco, he’ll be retiring this year. But the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office hopes to add several more K-9s to their unit by early next year.