K9 officers from around the state and metro Atlanta received hands-on, and paws-on, training at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Thursday.
The dogs were learning to sniff out drugs with help from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
During the training exercise, only three out of 200 pieces of luggage contained narcotics.
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One had heroin, another cocaine, and another methamphetamine.
It didn’t take the drug-sniffing dogs long to find those bags and alert them to their handlers.
“It’s kind of refreshing. They get to see something new,” Kenneth Hodgkins, a supervisor with U.S. Customs & Border Protection said.
Eleven teams from state and local agencies were hosted at the airport, including county sheriff’s, department of corrections, and metro police departments from Sandy Springs to Powder Springs.
They got to learn and see how Customs & Border Patrol operates with more than 70 international flights a day at the world’s busiest airport.
“We search thousands and thousands of bags,” Hodgkins said.
This is the third year of the training, which took two hours.
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For the first time, there was a timed competition to see which K9 team could find the drugs the fastest.
The winner of the competition was RENO and Officer Doug Racine from Powder Springs Police Department.
The narcotics-sniffing dogs and their handlers also got invaluable training they can take back to help on the streets, in the prisons, or wherever they’re working.
“If we ever need them to come out and assist us. Or if they say stop a Greyhound bus with a bunch of bags on it, they’ve already had the training. They know what to look for,” Hodgkins said.
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