“Find the dope, Raven.”

As soon as North Branch Police Officer Ron Rollins said those four words, it was as if a switch had been flipped in his canine partner’s brain. Raven, a black lab, eagerly caroused a line of vehicles in search of marijuana and cocaine scent in the garage of the North Branch Wastewater Treatment facility.

However, no one was arrested when Raven hit on the front headlight of one of the vehicles, frantically scratching the plastic until the cover came off. This was because minutes earlier, a bag of narcotics, referred to as a “hide,” had been deliberately placed by law enforcement behind the headlight cover.

Rollins and Raven, along with 19 other human/dog law enforcement teams from across the state, were participating in a K-9 certification event. Administering the afternoon was the United State Police Canine Association. The annual event tests police dogs’ and their handlers’ ability to locate hidden narcotics – or walleye and venison in the case of two wildlife conservation teams. The event was hosted by the North Branch Police Department during the blustery afternoon of Saturday, May 3, 2008.

Rollins said the certification helps not only to ensure Minnesota’s police dogs are acute sniffing machines, but also that their narcotic discoveries hold water in court. Certification also helps when officers are trying to obtain search warrants based on hits the dogs are making.

The ability to accurately make those hits were tested in two North Branch locations.

Finding drugs at a school

One was the North Branch High School. Rollins said K-9 teams were presented with three rooms, two of which contained hides. Besides finding the hides, teams were judged on how well the officer handled the dog and whether the canine was properly rewarded for finding a hide.

The high school is familiar territory for North Branch’s lone K-9 unit. Rollins and Raven are only one of two K-9 units trained in narcotics assigned to a school district. Rollins said the only other one is in Kansas.

Likewise, the high school seemed an appropriate place to conduct the certification. Because of the high level of scrutiny, Rollins said some officers may get nervous, just like students taking a test in school. He said this can upset the balance between an officer, who is used to being in control of a situation, and the dog, which is actually in charge.

“Fear travels down that leash,” Rollins said, referring to both certification and police work in the street. “The dog can feel your stress.”

He said the best K-9 teams consist of officers who just let the dog take over and follow their nose.

“We need to let the dog be in control,” Rollins said.