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K-9s Afoot at Butterfield Hospital
Bomb Detective Officer training held in Cold Spring
by Maria Theodore Leiter
 | | A Golden Lab takes his human partner (both names withheld for security reasons) on a field trip to Butterfield |
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Cold Spring was host to seven playful guests on a serious mission last week. On Thursday evening, January 25, 2007 Haldane School and on Friday the former Butterfield Hospital facility served a special function as schooling sites for seven canine officersin training and their patrolman handlers.
"We can't train these dogs to be the best they can be without places like this," said Sergeant William Finucane of the Metropolitan Transit Authority Canine Unit, one of the trainers. Canine detectives need to be placed in as many different facilities as possible to closely approximate real life scenarios, he explained. The more buildings and fields the dogs can find to train in, the more they are able to understand that scents they are tracking are not site specific.
On Friday at Butterfield, there were five German Shepherds and two Golden Labs, between the ages of one and two years old, who on that day were being taught to detect powders and low explosives. The dogs are usually purchased from breeders in the Czech Republic, Slovakia or Hungary. They must pass a physical as well as tests that measure their drive and temperament, before being accepted into the program. Upon graduating from their training, the new canine patrol officers and their patrolman handlers would be positioned along different MTA routes to serve as bomb detectors.
"Their scent is better than our sight is," marvels Sergeant Dave Campbell of the Orange County Sheriff's Office K-9 Unit. "Their ability to scent is phenomenal. They have great hearing too. A dog can hear at 75 feet away, what a human can no longer hear at 17 feet!"
Patrol Officer Herb (last name withheld at request of MTA) has been on the K-9 unit for two and a half years. He was training with a second dog, Berta. "It's a tough program. You have to be dedicated. I have lived my whole life with dogs. They make good partners." Like all the handlers, Herb will get to take the dog home with him after hours. "When they get home, its play; when we work, its work. Eventually, they know the difference."
The handlers must be trained to give their dogs the proper guidance and commands. "Being trained with the handlers; that's the hardest part," said Finucane. "The dogs are easy."
The explosives training program is a twelve-week endeavor that is held at various locations. The program is run through the Orange County Sheriff's Office K-9 Training Center. Much of the training takes place at their facility in Montgomery, New York. At that facility dogs are trained in explosives, narcotics, or patrol and tracking. Some are cross-trained.
"It is so much easier to clear a building with dogs," explained Finucane. The reason being, dogs do not have to move items out of the way, open bags or even get too close to explosives in order to detect them. This not only makes the act of bomb detection faster, but safer for all involved. Once the dog can identify a substance, the area can be cleared for the bomb squad specialists to deal with the item in question.
Cold Spring's own Patrol K-9 Duncan and Officer Darryl Burris were graduates of the program. They were trained by Campbell. Duncan was trained to detect drugs, track evidence and article recovery. Burris introduced a very playful Duncan on Friday, proudly showing off Duncan's trophies. Duncan and Burris recently qualified 2nd for Region 7 in detection trials held by the United States Police Canine Association. They will soon be competing in the National Narcotic Detector Certification Trials in Minnesota.
"He has been very good in assisting the Putnam County Sheriff's Department with several narcotics searches that resulted in arrests," said Burris. "And he recently tracked for burglary suspects, with success, even though they ended up losing the trail." Duncan has served well the citizens of Cold Spring at no cost thanks to donations which he still has, said Burris.
Burris was anxious to give back to the program that gave him Duncan and suggested Butterfield Hospital as a possible training location. He obtained permission from local authorities and the Hudson Valley Hospital Center.
The training is made possible through Homeland Security funding, said Finucane. But, the program also relies on donations of funds, which are carried out through professional fund raising organizations and, very importantly, of spaces in which they can train.
If these dogs are successful, they will bring the ranks of the MTA's K-9 unit to 50 dogs. They will be stationed along MTA routes in New York.
Campbell said it is not easy to find large vacant facilities that allow the dogs to train and can proximate real-life situations. The training can also take place after hours, as was the case at the Haldane School. Those who wish to donate their facilities can call Campbell at the Orange County Sheriff's Office at (845) 457-1567.
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