Expanding Baltimore Police K9 Unit Helps Sniff Out Drugs

Four of the eight new K9s. Pictured left to right K9s Jax, Hugo, Ranger, and Princess Jasmine. Credit: Dawn White

The Baltimore Police Department has new four-legged tools.

"They're great for publicity. They're great taking them out in the community. People see a police dog. I do all the major events with my dog," said Officer Steve Strum, who works as one of the K9 handlers.

Seven K9s are training to be drug dogs. They include six German Shepherds and a Belgian Malinois. The eighth dog is a Shorthaired German Pointer and will be a scent dog. Trainers hope the narcotics dogs can help to take a bite out of the opioid epidemic.

Dawn White reports:

"I've always said dogs are a force multiplier if an officer is out on the street. They have somebody that runs, throws drugs, can't find them, they have a car stopped, and they have probable cause for us to come out and sniff it," Sturm said. "It just makes their job much easier."

The K9s train to sniff out a variety of drugs ranging from cocaine to heroin.

"Dogs can pick apart every little different odor that's in them," Strum said. "People try masking them with different odors. It doesn't work because the dog can pick through. Say they wrap it in duct tape thinking that's going to throw the dog off. It doesn't."

The K9s will get a reward if they detect the drugs. The training is in rooms meant to replicate real-life situations, such as at a convenience store.

"They associate that scent of the drug with getting rewarded with their toy. I've always said the handler gets a paycheck, and the dog gets rewarded. His paycheck is a toy," Sturm said.

All Baltimore City K9s have their own Narcan kit to protect them if they sniff fentanyl or carfentanil. Narcan helps to reverse the effects of a drug overdose.

The Maryland Department of Health reports state opioid overdoses went up almost 10 percent in the first three quarters of 2018 compared to the same time frame in 2017.

The K9s are expected to graduate and hit the streets in 13 weeks.

The dogs cost $8,000 each and came from a grant through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Their names are Maki, Jax, Hugo, Ranger, Princess Jazmine, Loki, Manny, and Alec.