From shelter to police work
Sgt. Thomas Schaeffer opens the car door, and his canine partner, Stella, jumps out. She’s ready to work, sniffing out narcotics under Sgt. Schaeffer’s direction.
There’s nothing unusual about that…the Baltimore PD has long used dogs to sniff out drugs, explosives and guns.
What is unusual is where the Police Department found Stella and two other dogs for its K9 unit. All three came from Baltimore City’s open admission animal shelter, BARCS.
The three arrived at BARCS in 2015 and 2016. Stella and another dog (now retired by the Police Dept.), were taken from citizens because of neglect.
Sgt. Schaeffer says, “Stella was seized from a guy who left her in a back yard chained to a post. She had severe lacerations on her back leg.”
A third dog, named Jack, arrived as a stray. No one knew a thing about him.
But all three had one thing in common: someone at BARCS noticed they had a strong drive for treats and toys, an important trait for police dogs. So BARCS reached out to the Baltimore Police K9 Unit.
Says K9 Unit Commander Lt. Tomecha Brown, “They know our interests and what type of dogs we use. So when they get dogs they think we’re interested in, our trainers will go and test the dogs.”
BARCS employees were spot-on in their assessments. Police Department reps determined that each dog had real potential. After adoption from BARCS, they went through months of training, then went to work for the P.D.
Agent Thomas McWilliams remembers, “They told me they found one that met all the criteria and I went down and met Jack…he had been at BARCS for a long time. It worked out good. We get along fine!” Today Jack specializes in sniffing out guns.
Police dogs live with their handlers and are part of their families. They leave the house each day, ready to work for the rewards of their favorite toy and lots of affection.
This is a win-win-win.
- BARCS helped save three lives.
- The dogs are happy, healthy and beloved.
- Free adoptions saved the police a lot of money. Breeders typically charge the Department $5800-$7500 per dog.
BARCS Director of Communications Bailey Deacon says, “It’s wonderful to see all these different agencies working together to save lives. It’s not just the animal shelter that’s doing it. The police are rescue-minded as well.”
Bailey says one of her favorite things about this story is that some people believe shelter pets are somehow damaged and are not as good as animals from breeders. This is one more piece of evidence that that is simply untrue.
See it for yourself in this short video.
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