My name is Robert Thibeault and I am an officer with Presque Isle Police Department. I have been given the task of using this weeks “In the City” space to introduce you to the newest member of our department. He may not carry a gun, Taser or pepper spray and he can’t write tickets, arrest people or drive a cruiser, but what he can do should be considered just as useful, if not, more so than all those things. His name is Dozer and his nose is his most effective weapon in our department’s drug enforcement arsenal.
(short for Bulldozer) is a 15-month-old, purebred, Black Labrador Retriever that is fully trained in Narcotics Detection. Dozer is trained to search vehicles, buildings, luggage, packages…well, let’s just say, he can search just about anything for the presence of the odor of narcotics. The four narcotics that Dozer will find and alert to are Marijuana, Methamphetamine, Heroin and Cocaine. When Dozer detects the odor of any of those drugs, he exhibits a noticeable change of behavior and paws at the area the odor is coming.
When I was chosen by the Chief of Police, Naldo Gagnon, to be the handler of the new drug-sniffing K-9, the job of finding a dog was also left to me. It was on the Internet that I began what turned into many hours of research trying to find the right dog for our needs. At that time, I had no idea if we should get a puppy or a mature dog, a purebred or a mix, one that was trained or untrained, and finding the right information was not easy. After much “Googling”, countless phone calls and a few meetings with the Chief, we decided that a “finished” or fully trained dog was the way to go.
After searching K-9 training websites, speaking to a handful of trainers and other K-9 handlers and checking some references, I was convinced we had found the right place in Brookville, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. The training facility, named K-9 Solutions Center, is a small, home-based business, owned by nationally certified K-9 Trainer/Handler, Jeff Turner. Jeff currently serves as a part-time police canine handler for a small department in southwest Ohio. In his career, he has worked as a full-time canine handler in highway interdiction, as well as serving on a county drug task force where he served numerous search warrants.
I spent January 29th to February 5th in Ohio, completing a 50-hour handlers course with Jeff, learning how to deploy Dozer effectively. When I returned to Presque Isle with my new partner, we were ready to hit the ground running.
Dozer’s adjustment period upon arrival to Presque Isle was minimal. When we got to my house, he sniffed around, checked out the surroundings and made himself at home.
So far at work, Dozer and I have completed several hours of training, and he has done very well. I have yet to use Dozer on a traffic stop or search warrant for our department, but we did assist an outside agency with a call in which Dozer searched a vehicle, showed a positive alert to the odor of narcotics, and helped that agency find what they were looking for.
Our hopes are that Dozer will be a deterrent to drug use and trafficking in our area. Everyone knows there are more drugs going through the city than we are able to find on our own, so with a little help from my new partner, hopefully, we can get a significant amount of those drugs off our streets. Stay tuned for more news on Dozer’s impact on our community’s drug issues.
