Upstate district, police department bring in K-9 to track firearms
An Upstate school district is adding another layer of safety into it schools
An Upstate school district is adding another layer of safety into it schools
An Upstate school district is adding another layer of safety into it schools
An Upstate school district is adding another layer of safety into its schools.
Laurens County School District 55 partnered with the Laurens Police Department to bring in a new type of K-9, which will work primarily in schools within the Laurens city limits.
“Several months ago, back in early of last school year, we had a couple of issues where we had guns on campus," Laurens District 55 Assistant Superintendent Jody Penland said. "And we really wanted to do something to deter and also detect guns.”
The district said K-9 Cain is a unique type of tracking dog. The district already brings in drug-tracking dogs periodically, but police say K-9 Cain is different from narcotics-tracking dogs.
“There are not many K-9s out in the state of South Carolina or all around that actually do article searches and firearms detection,” Laurens Police Chief Keith Grounsell said.
Grounsell said Cain is specifically trained to detect and sniff out firearms and other related articles.
“Gun powder, actually firearms and actually ammunition," Penland said. "So that’s actually a different type of training that narcotics dogs do not have.”
Officers said Cain can track these different types of weapons in cars, packages, buildings and lockers, and will alert officers when he smells something.
“I watch his ears kind of perked up," Officer Tomlinson said. "His breathing changed when found that real quick hide I did right there. Then an alert, he’ll back up, sit down and looking a the source where the odor’s coming from.”
The district said Cain will be kept at Sanders Middle School most of the time but will work at all city schools and other extracurricular events throughout the city. After hours, police say he'll also be available if he's needed by the police department.
The goal is to track down any threats, but more importantly, prevent problems before they happen.
“We wanted to bring in a dog that was friendly and would be able to interact with the children, as well as have a police function that’s kind of a hidden function on the side.”
Chief Grounsell says they would love to bring in more K-9s like Cain to help out.