by Elizabeth Green
egreen@timescourier.com
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Dep. Pam Almond poses with her new charge, "Trooper," a drug detection dog in training.
Photo by Elizabeth Green
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A new officer has joined the Gilmer County Sheriff’s force. This is quite a different hire than any before it, though. Said “officer” is actually a young, bouncing, tail-wagging AKC registered yellow Labrador.
The two-year-old canine goes by “Trooper” and will be assisting Dep. Pam Almond in her duties as a school resource officer and as a CHAMPS (Choosing Healthy Active Methods Promoting Safety) program instructor.
Trooper’s story began more than a year ago when conscientious citizen Will Beattie tried repeatedly to get dogs donated for such a purpose. Finally, through substantial financial donations from the Harrison Foundation and ETC (Ellijay Telephone Company), the opportunity came about to purchase a “high quality dog,” explains Beattie.
Beattie searched the Auburn University Canine Detection Training Center and came up with Trooper. He happened to know the person who had sold the dog to the program and arranged Trooper’s purchase through this individual.
After his training is complete, this canine will be able to detect narcotic substances. According to Beattie, dogs’ olfactory senses are 10,000 to 50,000 times better than those of humans. Drug detection dogs are used through the legal system in situations of search and seizure because they are considered an extension of the human senses.
Trooper is receiving training primarily from Beattie, a former law enforcement agent for the state of South Carolina, who also serves as a technician for the K9 unit of the Gilmer County Emergency Management Search and Rescue team. He is also under the guidance of Almond, who, although new to detection training, is familiar with several different aspects of animal training, having competed extensively in the equestrian world.
Trooper is learning to search out illegal substances through operant conditioning, a reward based system. Narcotics detection dogs are never cross-trained with bomb detection methods. Once trained, a canine will be used only in one discipline, so as to avoid confusion in tense situations.
Almond has nine years’ experience in the law enforcement field and is certified in an exhaustive list of public safety positions, including: corrections officer, peace officer, firefighter and inspector, first responder and school resource officer.
Trooper will reside with Almond on her farm, on which she already has several dogs of her own. Almond describes him as a family member by night and working dog by day.
She has already taken Trooper to visit the students at Ellijay Elementary School, Ellijay Primary School and the Mountain Education Center, where she is based. She plans to take him to each public school in the county often and also to use Trooper as a “visual deterrent” in the classroom. She will also allow interaction with him as a reward during CHAMPS program sessions.
Almond points out that her fellow school resource officers, Dep. James “Slugger” Strawbridge and Dep. Ray Walker will take over her duties temporarily if she is ever called away from her duties as an officer to tend to Trooper’s training.
Likewise, Beattie has found flexibility in his job at ETC, allowing him to work with Trooper whenever he is needed. This flexibility is the result of a true community effort, according to Beattie.
It took “proactive vision” on the part of the board of education members, Sheriff Stacy Nicholson, ETC employees, members of the Harrison Foundation, Pam Almond and himself, says Beattie, “to realize the benefit and necessity of the securing of our children’s future.”