HURLOCK, Md. (WBOC)- North Dorchester High School, in partnership with the Dorchester County Sheriff's Office, will welcome Sade, a one and a half year-old K-9 officer to its School Resource Officer team.
Sade is a Labrador retriever with extensive training in K-9 responsibilities in a high school setting. Since being released to dog control due to her previous owner's inability to provide care for her, Sade has been trained in-house by one of the K-9 officers at the Sheriff's Office with assistance from the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office. She has become a fully-trained and certified Narcotics Detection K-9.
“From what we are being told they have a similar program to this in Ohio and it has been very successful. It's unique because we are the only county in Maryland to have a K-9 that is specifically assigned to the School Resource officer,” said Dorchester County Sheriff James Phillips Jr.
Sade's handler, Cpl. Andrea Robinson, has participated in training exercises in preparation for the 2014-2015 school year. Sade's primary role will be to conduct periodic sweeps to sniff out illegal substances. According to the sheriff, those sweeps occur a couple times a year, and students and school staff will rarely interact with Sade when school is in session. When Sade is not policing or performing special duties, she will be in a crate located in Robinson's office.
“Before, if we got a tip of some drug activity in the schools, we would have to wait until a K-9 dog was available. Sometimes it could be a day or two days later until we could find a dog on duty. Now, if Robinson gets a call to respond, it can be done in whatever the travel time is,” said Phillips.
According to the superintendent's office, the partnership between dog control, Dorchester County Sheriff's Office and Dorchester County Public Schools has saved taxpayers in the county about $10,000 and will allow the dog to be used in any school in the county when needed.
Phillips also said Sade's presence had additional positive effects in the schools.
“Something we found, Sade had a very calming effect on some of the special needs children as well. Teachers saw a difference in their composure and their attitude when she was around,” Phillips said.
