(NewsNation) — Man’s best friend is joining America’s fight against the deadliest drug the nation has ever seen.
For the first time ever, Border Patrol K-9s are being trained to detect fentanyl. An academy in El Paso, Texas, is currently teaching 62 K-9s to find fentanyl and other hard narcotics, like meth and heroin.
These illicit drugs are coming in between the nation’s ports of entry, making Border Patrol and their K-9 partners essentially the last line of defense in detecting illicit drugs at checkpoints.
Jaime Lopez, a supervisory Border Patrol agent, says there is zero room for error when lives are on the line.
“It could be somebody’s kids. It could be somebody’s husband, wife, brother, sister, uncle. In order for us to do our job here and train these dogs to the standard that we need, we’re affecting the nation as far as a whole,” Lopez said. “All this that we do is not for nothing.”
Director of the BPK9 Academy Stephen Crump told NewsNation that expanding the dogs’ abilities is the best way to contribute to the nation’s safety.
“The K-9 community for the United States Border Patrol has been the best of the best for 30-something years, and now we’re even adding on to that,” Crump said.
The agency plans to up its workforce in the next fiscal year to more than 300 K-9s — more than double the 144 dogs in 2016 to 2020.
The K-9s are trained to not only detect drugs that are being concealed but people who are being smuggled into the U.S.
“You’re going to go up against the best-of-the-best smugglers,” Lopez said.
It’s all about the partnership with the dog and its handler — the reward is such a huge part, so when the pup does its job, the K-9 is rewarded as the good boy or good girl it is.
Currently they have 900 teams deployed to the field, and Lopez told NewsNation they are looking to improve the numbers to over 1,000 by next fiscal year.
