Page 18 - 2017 08 Post.indd

County prosecutor’s office opens K-9 training center

By Michele Alperin tasked him with finding a place for a train- “You get opportunities to get all canine
ing complex in Mercer County and deter- handlers of the county to come and train
Dogs trained to sniff out narcotics or mine what equipment was needed. together and for their dogs to get used to
explosives or to help out police officers Angarone estimates that law enforce- working with each other, because you are
on patrol can be crucial to the ability ment agencies in Mercer County have training as a team instead of as individu-
of local and state police to do their jobs about 20 to 25 trained K-9 dogs and als,” he says. “The dogs get very excited
effectively. But when K-9 officers in law about four certified trainers. Training in and tire quickly, so if they are conduct-
enforcement agencies throughout the narcotics and explosives detection takes ing any kind of search, you usually need
county wanted to train their dogs, they 13 weeks, and cross-training as a patrol to have more than one dog. It is impor-
used to have to travel all over the state. dog requires an extra 15 weeks. tant for the dogs and their handlers to get
It was expensive and time consuming. Robbinsville has dogs trained to find used to each other and their capabilities.”
That all changed now with the June narcotics; Trenton and Ewing, narcot- It is critical that dogs be trained to
29 opening of the new Mercer County ics and explosives; Princeton, Lawrence meet the standards set by the United
Prosecutor’s Office K-9 Training Facil- and West Windsor, explosives; and the States Police Canine Association,
ity in Ewing. The facility is free to canine Mercer County sheriff’s office, explo- because these standards are upheld in
handlers in all police agencies in Mercer sives. They also have bloodhounds—a courts, Angarone says.
County and the N.J. Transit Police. breed of dog known for its keen sense of He describes situations where this can
“It may not seem like big thing to people, smell and ability to track people. be important: “People sue if they get bit-
but it really is,” says Angelo Onofri, Mercer Angarone and Onofri cite many pluses ten by a dog during an arrest, or people
County’s prosecutor, of the training center. for the new facility. Angarone says that not (or their lawyers) try to say that the dog
“A majority of our police departments have having to travel for training means that isn’t trained well enough to smell narcot-
dogs, and they need to be trained.” law enforcement agencies save both time ics so a search warrant shouldn’t have
Onofri says he got his first inkling of and money that would have had to be paid Hamilton resident Joe Angarone, been given because of the dog,” he says.
the value of such a facility a few years for travel expenses or overtime. “Your with K-9 partner Bella, led the The new training grounds are located
ago, when he saw a demonstration of resources stay in the county and they charge to build a training complex in a fenced-in area off Scotch Road that
the agility field—an area with assorted don’t have to leave for training,” he says. in Mercer County. In late June, the was formerly used by West End Soccer.
ramps, tunnels and other obstacles use He adds that since all the equip- prosecutor’s office opened a new The outdoor facility includes a standard
to train a dog—at the N.J. State Police ment was purchased by the prosecu- K-9 training facility in Ewing. agility course—with catwalk, hurdles
Canine Academy’s after he taught a tor’s office and paid for using $30,000 in and A-frame (which simulate jumping
class there on the use of force by police. funds seized from drug dealers, it hasn’t over walls and fences), a broad jump
The move to look into providing the facil- cost local municipalities any money. can go out there at midnight or 3 a.m.” and a low crawl. There’s also a scent pit
ity came when Joe Angarone, a detective Onofri says all of the training equip- * * * filled with p-rock (small pebbles) where
sergeant with the prosecutor’s office, men- ment state of the art, and the facility it Onofri says a countywide K-9 train- the odor of narcotics or explosives is
tioned to Onofri that canines and their han- is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. ing facility will mean more cohesiveness hidden, and six boxes where “suspects”
dlers had to go all over the state for agility “Everybody’s schedule is different,” he among the county’s K-9 handlers and hide so the dogs can sniff them out.
practice. Onofri deputized Angarone and said. “If you work a midnight shift, you their dogs. The new K-9 Training Facility, Anga-

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18Hamilton Post | August 2017