Narcotics go to the dogs

The two newest police recruits will bring added sniffing powers to a rebooted narcotics squad.

The recruits, a pair of two-and-a half year-old yellow Labs, Nia and Orvis, shown with their handlers Detective Jodi Novella (pictured above) and Detective Theodore Forbes (pictured below), were formally introduced Thursday morning at the Amity Road Stop & Shop.

They were flanked by members of the narcotics squad, top police brass, the mayor, and Sue Matican’s second grade class from Edgewood Magnet School. The 25 students, first cautious and then oohing and aahing, were bussed over for the occasion.

The dogs remained mellow as Chief James Lewis made the canine introduction in remarks addressed to the children:

“In the past six weeks the narcotics squad has seized more than 600 grams of cocaine, 30 grams of heroin, and put 54 felons in jail so that you will safer in your city. Now, with these dogs, you will be even safer.”

When acceptance of the grant to purchase the dogs was approved last week by the Board of Aldermen, Newhallville’s Alderman Charles Blango expressed concern that the dogs might be used for crowd control or intimidation.

Lewis reiterated Thursady that Nia and Orvis would be deployed strictly for narcotics searches and seizures, not as patrol dogs, or for any other purpose. They will receive about six weeks total training. The city already has two dogs trained exclusively for sniffing out explosives.

Patrol Dogs on the Horizon

Nevertheless, Lewis added that even more K-9s well might be barking and chasing on behalf of the NHPD in the not too distant future.

Lewis said that he was very much in favor of adding a patrol dog capacity to the NHPD. Unlike Nia and Orvis, who already live with their detective handlers and will be seamlessly integrated into the unit, patrol dogs and their utilization require alterations in the officers’ labor contract. Lewis hoped that might be resolved in June.

“Not only am I for the concept of patrol dogs,” he said, “but I believe the police and the union are and a good part of the city as well. It’s a question of timing.”

Because Nia and Orvis had yet to receive their narcotics training at the state police facility in Meriden, a third dog present at the event, the black Lab Nita, who’d already graduated, demonstrated what a K-9 sniffer could do.

The Amazing Canine Schnoz

“A human nose,” said her handler, State Trooper Dean Griffin, as Nita checked out what the kids had in their pockets and on the soles of their sneakers, “has 50,000 smell receptors, but a dog’s nose as many as 300,000. Nita’s nose is like your eye.”

And that well might enhance the efficiency and productivity of the 12-member narcotics squad. The unit was reconstituted on February 2 after state authorities took it over in the wake of a corruption scandal involving narcotics’ cop Billy White.

Narc Unit Efficiency

Assistant Police Chief Pete Reichard elaborated on the chief’s figures and the officers’ activity. Since Feb. 2, “We’ve had 60 narcotics investigations, eight search & seizures, and 54 felony arrests. That has resulted in seizure of 631 grams of cocaine, whose street value is $ 550,000; 803 grams of marijuana; $ 23,600 in cash, and one handgun.”

Reichard said he was extremely pleased with the squad’s work thus far and with Nia and Orvis, he suggested there would likely be many more confiscations.

“These dogs’ noses are phenomenal,” said Lewis who himself owned a Lab until it died recently. “Not every house we hit will have drugs, but if they’re there, these dogs will rarely miss.”

The efficiency and greater productivity will come, he said, because the dogs will enable officers to get in and get out quickly and move on to the next case.

Mayor Disses Dogs?

Some controversy did flare when the mayor expressed surprise that Nia and Orvis had finished their obedience training but then were purchased by the NHPD from a school that trains dogs for the blind. “You mean they washed out of seeing-eye school?”

“No, no, not washed out” one of the narcotics officers corrected hizzoner. “They had a different calling.”

Would the dogs be granted vacation time, a reporter asked?

They might have, the Chief retorted — “except the mayor took it out of our budget!”

The dogs were purchased in part, that is, all of the dog, but part of their purchase price, was paid for through a $ 5,000 grant from Del Monte Pet Products and Milk-Bone, hence their presentation at Stop & Shop’s dog food display. East Rockers from the Humphrey Street area also have raised $ 1,700 toward the purchase price, he added. The total cost per dog is closer to $ 10,000.

Canine Community Policing?

For those concerned with the state of community policing, what exactly was the message being conveyed by the impressive show of canine and cop power?

“While the dogs are obviously being used for a targeted activity,” said Lewis, “it’s a mistake to think this is not about ‘community policing.’ With these dogs there will be fewer drugs, and it will be much harder to sell drugs on the street corner. With more heroin and crack off the streets, there will be less shooting. It’s a targeted activity that’s ultimately about people’s safety. That’s community policing. It’s really a question of terminology.”

Nia and Orvis live in the homes of their handlers and have become part of the Novella and Forbes families, where other dogs already reside. Novella says Nia is getting along fine with her 100-pound German Shephard, but Forbes reported that his 180-pound mastiff still has an emotional issue to work out in welcoming Orvis.

The dogs will be on duty by mid-April, police said.

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