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Dogs give Garner police edge

By McLean Dobbins
Citizen Journalist

The newest additions to the Garner Police Department are adept at tracking suspects, searching for drugs and apprehending criminals. They have undergone intense training and have been responsible for the recovery of illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin and marijuana. They have even tracked down suspects fleeing from stolen cars.

Officer Taylor watches as Bandit performs a narcotics search demonstration at the Investigative Annex Wednesday, May 27. MCLEAN DOBBINS, GCNT

And all they want in return is a tennis ball to play with.

Citizens and police alike gathered at the Investigative Annex located at 400 Aversboro Road Wednesday, May 27 as the Garner police introduced Bear and Bandit, the department’s two new K-9s.

Bear, a 3-year-old Malinois/German shepherd mix, and Bandit, a 2-year-old, full-blooded German shepherd from the Czech Republic, were on hand to show off some of their skills.

The collaboration of man and dog

Of course, a police dog is only as good as its handler. With more than 20 years of law enforcement experience between them, officers Sonny Roberson and David Taylor were just the men for the job.

A member of the Garner Police Department since 2002, Roberson said he had previously been interested in working with K-9s and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to work with Bear.

Taylor, who is paired with Bandit, has been with the department since 1999.

The dogs were acquired with asset forfeiture funds obtained from the Department of Justice’s Equitable Sharing Program, which allows local law enforcement agencies to receive aid when criminally obtained assets are sold, according to police.

The K-9s demonstrated their skills Wednesday, May 27 as they performed article and drug searches.

Roberson said the dogs were often used to search a general area in which a crime occurred. When they are unable to find any evidence or track down a suspect right away, even the ability of the dogs to narrow down a crime or a suspect to a general location can be invaluable to police.

Superior vision and an extremely sensitive sense of smell allow the dogs to find things most humans cannot.

“Our vision isn’t as good, and our sense of smell isn’t near as good as theirs is,” Roberson said.

Drawing on factors such as air temperature, humidity and wind direction, the dogs are able to perform searches of buildings and crime scenes for drugs, weapons and any other objects that may be vital to a case.

“The dogs would have a better chance of catching odors,” Roberson said of the advantage of using the dogs compared to humans in searching crime scenes.

And when they do locate an item, the dogs have been trained not to bite or chew on it to avoid contaminating any potential evidence in a crime.

Because the K-9s are trained as dual-purpose dogs, they are capable of performing both patrol work and narcotics searches, according to police.

“Our dogs are trained to do both outside and internal searches,” Taylor said.

 A quick return on a worthy investment

A verbal cue of “Let’s go find some dope,” which Taylor does in baby talk, lets Bandit know it is time to perform a narcotics search. Ten grams of marijuana hidden in the front bumper of a car was no match for Bandit as he demonstrated his search prowess. Taylor promptly rewarded him by throwing a tennis ball for him to chase.

“The tennis ball is a big motivator for the dogs, just like you would do with your dog at home,” Roberson said.

After the dogs were given some initial training, Roberson and Taylor spent about nine weeks training with them.

By the time their training was finished, Bear and Bandit had completed more than 400 hours of training in areas such as obedience, agility, apprehension and various searches.

In his first weekend on the job, Bear helped track down a man who had fled from a car after wrecking it in an attempt to avoid a driver’s license checkpoint. It turned out he was a convicted felon, and police were able to recover a stolen handgun, 2 ounces of marijuana and $650 in cash.

Taylor and Bandit have recovered illegal drugs resulting in criminal charges, including felony possession of cocaine and the seizure of more than $2,000, according to police.

Their training appears to have paid off already.

Related articles:

• Garner Police K-9 helps corral armed robbery suspect

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