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Tuesday, July 19, 2016

St. Mary’s Co. Sheriff under fire for spending on questionable K-9 airport 'bomb' training

Leonardtown, Md. (ABC7) — A local sheriff is coming under fire after two of his K-9 teams recently went all the way to Canada for airport bomb training – even though his county, St. Mary’s, doesn't have a commercial airport.

In mid-May, the K-9 teams, traveled 630 miles to Montreal for what the St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office hailed on its website as "Prestigious Airport Explosive Detection Training" - where they learned to scan "airport terminals, passenger airlines and baggage systems."

The dogs trained on some of the largest most sophisticated airliners in the world. They also learned from a master K-9 trainer on how to keep commercial airline passengers safe - even though the St. Mary's County Regional Airport has never sold a ticket.

The county’s stylish terminal was built 15 years ago for $3.1 million state tax payer bucks. The thought was it would support commercial flights. But never has.

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just think,they could've gone to Dover AFB, trained on all of the airplanes they wanted to, for FREE. I know an agency who goes there monthly for the FREE training.

Anonymous said...

Just think of the waste ! We have dope dogs and bomb dogs readily available but the cops can't hardly get a tracking dog to a scene! And if aviation isn't available as well..... your wicomico county sheriff's deputies will not go into certain areas and will let the guy who you know is in the cornfield after trying to break in your house,walk scott free. We don't need so many bomb dogs! Why we have them is one reason. Sniff out guns when you assert your rights and don't inform a cop your carrying. which is non of their business. Especially during a simple traffic stop and a person is a concealed carry permit holder.

Anonymous said...

Police / Correctional K-9 units are used all over the State of MD, in any jurisdiction, so what is the big deal. These Units can be used in any airport in the State and possible surrounding States. I would want more trained units than not enough to respond.

Anonymous said...

What I'm getting at is military bases offer free training to LE explosive detection dogs. They also offer first hand real world experiences for different training scenarios. No need to go to Canada to get that. If you want to train at an airport contact TSA, they have their own canines.

Anonymous said...

What's that all aboot?