News Story

Mini Sniffs Out Crime in North Kingstown By Mike Dynon There’s a new patrol officer in training for the North Kingstown Police Department, and one thing is certain: she has a nose for solving crimes. The recruit is Mini, a 2-year-old Labrador retriever who is working with the department’s K-9 Officer, Kevin Gleason. Officer Gleason joined the NKPD 10 years ago, and since taking the K-9 assignment three years ago has teamed with Bert, a German shepherd. Bert is 8 years old and after many years of faithful service is likely to retire this fall. “Bert is still in good health,” says Officer Gleason, “but his hips are starting to give out, and we don’t try to push the dog beyond what they’re capable of doing. It’s supposed to be fun for the dog, like a game. Once it’s not fun for the dog, it’s time to retire.” Mini came along at the right time, somewhat by chance, when Officer Gleason made the acquaintance of Debra Scott at the police station last year. Scott was there to verify a vehicle ID number, and when she saw the K-9 officer they began a conversation about dogs. As Officer Gleason learned, Debra and Shaun Scott own a breeding business called Dogwood Labradors, in the north end of North Kingstown. Mini was one of Dogwood’s finest, a beautiful black lab who last year appeared on the cover of a trade journal, The International Labrador Review. Before long, the Scotts offered to let Mini “apply” for a spot on the K-9 corps in narcotics detection. Mini was evaluated by K-9 trainer Greg Richards of the RI Department of Corrections. Richards is an accredited trainer for the North American Police Work Dog Association (NAPWDA), and he tested Mini’s “drive.” According to Officer Gleason, a potential police dog must demonstrate an intense “ball drive” or “hunt drive” -- a relentless urge to go after a toy or find an object. Mini passed the test and was generously donated by the Scotts to the NKPD. “Deb felt Mini had the drive to do the job,” says Officer Gleason. “She wanted the dog to have a job it’s meant to do. Some dogs are meant to be shown, others are meant to work, whether it’s hunting or narcotics detection. She’s in the business for the love of the breed.” Deb Scott says they were motivated to donate Mini as a tribute to their mentors, Jack and Dot Galvin, owners of Hennings Mill Labradors in Ohio. “Jack and Dot have been so gracious and giving to [Dogwood Labradors] kennel that, in honor of their contribution to us and the Labrador retriever, we were happy to make this donation. We realized that Officer Kevin needed a good dog who could help him get his job done. We were blessed in having the right girl. Officer Kevin and Mini will do beautiful things together!” To support Mini as she trains for the force, many area businesses have stepped forward with donations of funds, goods and services. Among them are the North Kingstown Animal Hospital, Big River Veterinary, William Truesdale, DVM, Pilgrim Subaru and Wal-Mart. The Kayla Jean Ricci Foundation also made a $500 grant. Officer Gleason does plenty, too, actually training Mini on his own time. Once Mini is fully trained and certified, she will be officially adopted by the NKPD. “It’s not really a sacrifice on my part because I enjoy what I do,” says Officer Gleason. “And since we were able to get some grants, obviously, this is a cost savings for the town.” Bert and Mini both live with Officer Gleason and his wife, Keely -- and the Gleasons already have a yellow Labrador of their own. “My wife jokes we have to put an addition on the house.” For formal training under NAPWDA standards, Officer Gleason brings Mini to Greg Richards, the correctional officer based at the state’s Adult Correctional Institute (ACI). “All the corrections in Rhode Island and most of the local police departments work under the NAPWDA standard for certification,” Officer Gleason notes. “Rhode Island does not require a K-9 to be certified, but we feel it’s important that we subscribe to a certain standard.” NAPWDA calls for annual recertification, with good reason. “It’s very easy to take a dog and put it on the street without certification,” comments Officer Gleason, “but will that hold up in court? When you sit down with a lawyer during discovery, and they ask what are your qualifications as a K-9 handler, and you bring out a book this big of all the training records with national standards, then it’s very rare they will question that. They don’t even want to get you up on the stand.” Since September, the officers have been training Mini two to three nights a week at the ACI. Dogs in narcotics detection learn to recognize four odors: marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. The K-9 unit at the prison has a Drug Enforcement Administration license to train with those narcotics under strict controls. Officer Gleason recently became licensed, as well. To imprint a dog with the four narcotics odors, trainers use techniques to associate the odors with the dog’s favorite toy. Mini’s toy is simply a rolled-up towel, to play tug-of-war. Mini has been taught to search for narcotics by following Officer Gleason’s hand as he points to different locations. She’s highly energized as he repeats the command, “check,” while they move in the search pattern. When Mini detects a narcotics odor, she scratches at the spot where the drugs are hidden. As soon as she does, she is rewarded with her toy. Although the odors trigger Mini’s response, in her mind she’s just searching for her toy, Officer Gleason says. “We want the dog to sniff, and when she starts to scratch that makes the toy appear. It’s just a really big game to her.” Between sessions at the ACI, one-on-one work with Officer Gleason, and in-service training -- where K-9 corps from many local police departments convene for group exercises -- Mini is ready to take her NAPWDA certification test, says Officer Gleason. “At this point, Mini has been imprinted with all four narcotic odors. Now we’re just building up repetition. By the time she goes for certification, she will have gone through more than 500 ‘hides,’ actually finding narcotics that have been placed out in various locations.” K-9 officers place a high priority on keeping their dogs safe. During training, explains Officer Gleason, hidden drugs are placed in canvas bags, allowing a dog to smell the odors but not ingest the drugs. A first-aid kit, containing test kits and antidotes to the drugs, is always kept in the K-9 patrol car in case of emergency. Mini’s last requirement to be allowed to go “on the job” is the certification test, where a NAPWDA master trainer will observe as Mini searches for all four narcotics odors in vehicles, lockers and a building. Officer Gleason describes the scene: “For the buildings, there will be five rooms, four with a narcotic odor -- one with marijuana, one with cocaine, one with heroin, one with methamphetamine. One will be a blank room, no narcotic odor. I’ll have no idea where the narcotics are hidden.” Mini will need to check five lockers and five vehicles in the same configuration. The four vehicles containing narcotics will each have one hide on the outside and one on the inside. “It’s all one test,” says Officer Gleason, “for a total of 16 narcotics hides, and you’re only allowed one miss for the whole certification. “Any dog can have a bad day, but most dogs don’t have trouble passing the certification,” states Officer Gleason, “especially if you go through the proper training with the dog and maintain a good in-service training program. If you have problems with passing certification, it probably stems from the initial selection -- the dog wasn’t suited for that type of work. Since 2003, I’ve brought Bert for three certifications and never had a problem. “As long as you do your in-service training and maintain good training records, you should have no fear about going to get certified. It’s just another training day.” Reprinted with the permission of the North Kingstown Villager