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Protection Through Detection
I have trained the world's first narcotic detection horse in order to give law enforcement, government agencies, and mounted sheriff’s posses another weapon to be used to fight crime.
War on Illegal Drugs We hear so much about the war in Iraq these days that we sometimes forget about the war that is being waged right here in our own country, right in our own communities, that is the war on illegal drugs. Use of illegal drugs has been linked to organized crime, murder, terrorism and responsible for destroying many lives.
The Advantages Narcotic Detection Horses Offer · The horse can scent right on the ground like a dog, but they can also scent six feet high in the air, many times this puts the horse in a perfect location to pick up scent because the majority of time scent rises. A excellent example of this is when scent is coming out of vehicle windows, the horse's nose is right there in a perfect location to catch it. · The horse’s head and neck are like a narcotic detecting probe. This probe (the horse's nose) can be easily maneuvered around by the rider in order to make a strategically precise search. The horse's nose can reach places that a K9 can not reach or where the K9 would at the very least have great difficulty in reaching. Examples include engine compartments of cars and trucks, truck boxes loaded with cargo, checking window seals in cars and pickup toppers, reaching into the interior of all vehicles, (a perfect example would be checking the interior of a semi tractor), etc.
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· The equine detection horse is ideal for searching warehouses. It can easily maneuver through the aisles, and, as mentioned above, it can stick its nose up high to check higher shelves. · Many volunteers like sheriff's posse members and reserve deputies have horses, and they love to use them to help law enforcement. Law enforcement agencies that do not have large operating budgets can now have a new crime fighting tool at the tips of their fingers, without costing the taxpayers a fortune.
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Narcotic detection horses are perfect for patrolling parking lots,
grounds areas, parks or vehicle inspection points. · Narcotic detection horses could act as the perfect undercover scent detector tool. They could be used for finding meth labs or marijuana fields in small towns and in rural or wilderness areas. |
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For high profile events we may be
able to arrange to put on live equine detection demonstrations. (see
I
first started thinking about using horses for narcotic detection after my wife
and 16-year-old daughter approached me one day and suggested that maybe
instead of focusing all my energy on SAR detection horses, I should
experiment with narcotic detection. They reasoned that illegal drugs are a
bigger problem for our area than lost people. I gave it some thought, and the
more I thought about it, the more sense it made to me. I know equine scent work
in SAR was important, but there was a bigger problem growing
right in our own community. Just to give you an example of what a problem
illegal drugs are becoming even in rural areas, I would like to tell you about
where I live. I live in a very rural community, there is not even one stoplight
in our whole county. Up until several years ago, I did not even know what meth
was; now it has become a major problem with meth labs being discovered in and
around our hometown. I am talking about my hometown where my children go to
school and spend time with their friends. Just in the last three weeks, in the
area surrounding our county, there have been two drug-related killings. Trust me,
that type of thing never used to happen in or around our area. The problem of meth is not even contained to our lifetime, now they are finding problems with
babies being born from parents that used meth. Trust me, if it’s a problem in my
area, it is also is a problem in your area. Do you see why I am concerned, and
why I would like to do my part in helping fight this war? 
Many times if you are using a K9 to search a vehicle, the K9 will
jump up on the trunk or hood in order to try to pick up any scent rising from
the seams. When a dog does this, it will cause scratches. Now if it is found
that the vehicle did, in fact, not contain any hidden contraband, all of a
sudden those scratches could get very expensive for the agency that the dog and
handler worked. The detection horse, on the other hand, wears a specially
designed bridle that will not scratch the surfaceswith which it comes in
contact.