If students walk into LSUPD, they might see Police Chief Ricky Adams hanging out with the department’s two new recruits. Meet Officers Mary and Sendy, the two new additions to LSUPD. They are loyal and exceptionally trained explosive ordinance detection dogs. They search and locate the odor of explosives, track down shell casings, guns and different components of bombs. Mary, a 3-year-old Dutch Shepherd, joined LSUPD in March and Sendy, a 2-year-old German Shepherd, joined in June. Officer Andrew Woodruff, Mary’s handler, and Officer Jason Bettencourtt, Sendy’s handler, said the dogs provide a heightened level of security for the University and for sporting events. “We believe that our ability to protect faculty, staff, students, and visitors to the campus would be tremendously enhanced by the addition of the explosive detection dogs,” Police Chief Ricky Adams said. Homeland Security awarded a grant to the University to pay for partial costs for the bomb dog project. “Student fees did not pay for any of the bomb dog funding,” Adams said. Adams declined to say how much the dogs cost the University. Adams said acquiring the bomb dogs was a joint decision made by the Vice Chancellor of Financial and Administrative Services Jerry Baudin and Chancellor Sean O’Keefe. LSUPD spokesman Maj. Lawrence Rabalais said the bomb dogs give the police department a new level of security. “This may prevent another Virginia Tech or another Columbine [incident],” he said. The dogs were trained at a school called K-9 Concepts in Broussard, Louisiana, owned by trainers Jack and Sheree Robicheaux. The owners ordered the dogs from Holland, then proceeded to go through an intense 12-week training process which involved hiding toys with certain odors, teaching commands and instructing the dogs to use passive alert. When the dogs detect an odor, they sit instead of scratching, like most narcotics dogs. After the 12-week training program, the handlers arrive at the school for a 4-week training period. “We were trained to their mannerisms and their alerting because they both have different styles of working,” Woodruff said. During the four-week training process, the handlers learned a few commands in Dutch because the dogs cannot fully understand English. According to Woodruff, bomb detection is the most difficult kind of training and not many dogs make it through the screening process. Rabalais said before receiving Mary and Sendy, K-9 Concepts screened two other dogs. After Mary and Sendy made it through the screening process, they were ready to be taken to LSUPD, where they continue to train three to four times a week. While off-duty, Woodruff said he and Bettencourtt bring the dogs in the office a couple of times a week and show them around, but most of the time they stay in the vehicles specially designed to house the dogs. They are let out about every hour to go to the bathroom, play fetch and are sometimes taken to the recreational complex on River Road to exercise. At the end of the day, the handlers return home with the dogs, and place them in their own kennels specially designed by a University-hired contractor.
—Contact Stacy Coco at [email protected]