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Distillery tours are sniff a vehicle for explosives in the new Mercer County Prosecutor’s
HOPEWELL, NJ Officer Drew Astbury and K-9 Joda of the Trenton Police Department
available every weekend. Office K-9 Training Facility in Ewing.

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K-9 continued from Page 1 * * *
Taste our spirits. inkling of the value of such a facility Onofri says a countywide K-9 train-
a few years ago, when he saw a dem- ing facility will mean more cohesiveness
Register online. onstration of the agility field—an area among the county’s K-9 handlers and
HANDCR AFTED
NE W JERSE Y ’S with assorted ramps, tunnels and other their dogs.
F IR S T FA R M D IS T IL L E RY
SINCE PROHIBITION ™ obstacles use to train a dog—at the N.J. “You get opportunities to get all canine
www.SourlandSpirits.com State Police Canine Academy’s after he handlers of the county to come and train
S taught a class there on the use of force together and for their dogs to get used
SOURLANDOURLAND
by police.
to working with each other, because you
The move to look into providing the are training as a team instead of as indi-
MOUNTAINUNTAIN facility came when Joe Angarone, a viduals,” he says. “The dogs get very
MO
detective sergeant with the prosecutor’s excited and tire quickly, so if they are
GLUTEN-FREE
office, mentioned to Onofri that canines conducting any kind of search, you usu-
90 PROOF | 45% ALC/VOL | 750 ML
and their handlers had to go all over the ally need to have more than one dog. It
state for agility practice. Onofri depu- is important for the dogs and their han-
tized Angarone and tasked him with dlers to get used to each other and their
finding a place for a training complex capabilities.”
in Mercer County and determine what It is critical that dogs be trained to
equipment was needed. meet the standards set by the United
Angarone estimates that law enforce- States Police Canine Association,
ment agencies in Mercer County have because these standards are upheld in
about 20 to 25 trained K-9 dogs and courts, Angarone says.
about four certified trainers. Training in He describes situations where this can
narcotics and explosives detection takes be important: “People sue if they get bit-
13 weeks, and cross-training as a patrol ten by a dog during an arrest, or people
dog requires an extra 15 weeks. (or their lawyers) try to say that the dog
Robbinsville has dogs trained to find isn’t trained well enough to smell narcot-
narcotics; Trenton and Ewing, narcot- ics so a search warrant shouldn’t have
(609) 333-8575 ics and explosives; Princeton, Lawrence been given because of the dog,” he says.
and West Windsor, explosives; and the The new training grounds are located
Mercer County sheriff’s office, explo- in a fenced-in area off Scotch Road that
Find Us On Facebook sives. They also have bloodhounds—a was formerly used by West End Soccer.
& Follow us at breed of dog known for its keen sense of The outdoor facility includes a standard
agility course—with catwalk, hurdles
smell and ability to track people.
@SourlandSpirits Angarone and Onofri cite many pluses and A-frame (which simulate jumping
130 Hopewell-Rocky for the new facility. Angarone says that not over walls and fences), a broad jump
having to travel for training means that and a low crawl. There’s also a scent pit
Hill Road law enforcement agencies save both time filled with p-rock (small pebbles) where
and money that would have had to be paid the odor of narcotics or explosives is
Hopewell, NJ 08525 for travel expenses or overtime. “Your hidden, and six boxes where “suspects”
resources stay in the county and they hide so the dogs can sniff them out.
don’t have to leave for training,” he says. The new K-9 Training Facility, Anga-
He adds that since all the equip- rone says, is for both scent dogs and
ment was purchased by the prosecu- patrol dogs, which he explains are “dogs
tor’s office and paid for using $30,000 in that bite when necessary.”
funds seized from drug dealers, it hasn’t Patrol dogs are used for crowd con-
cost local municipalities any money. trol—dispersing an unruly crowd by
Onofri says all of the training equip- barking and moving people along—and
ment state of the art, and the facility it for tracking suspects. In cases where
is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. there is a home burglary and the sus-
“Everybody’s schedule is different,” he pects won’t come out, a dog can be sent
said. “If you work a midnight shift, you in to help flush them out. Or patrol dogs
can go out there at midnight or 3 a.m.” can track down suspects who have left
8Ewing Observer | August 2017