Dogs, handlers train hard to uncover explosives

[Global Paw]

WEST DEPTFORD TWP. -- His is the biggest SUV in the parking lot, a huge, white unmarked Ford Excursion, and he has so many gadgets in the vehicle and on his belt, he was nicknamed "Batman" the very first day.

Deptford Township Ptl. Dave Wentz, 30, son of a retired Deptford cop, is in the eighth week of training with his sidekick, Aron, a German shepherd dog being taught to sniff out explosives.

It's as much the handler as it is the dog when it comes to this kind of training, according to the lead instructor for this New Jersey State Police course, Department of Corrections Lt. Robert Gorbe.

Rugged and gruff, Gorbe is a no-nonsense cop who's been working with bomb dogs since 1987 and confesses to sometimes liking them more than the humans who handle them.

Handlers and dogs may wash out of this school, but not always together. In this cycle, there's a dog for whom a new handler was recruited when the first guy just couldn't make it.

This 12-week, five-day-a-week school has no classroom. Every day is a field trip, so the dogs can be put through their paces in every sort of environment imaginable. Tuesday, the class was working out sniffing routines and training at the Sunoco Eagle Point Refinery on Route 130, thanks to Wentz and Sunoco's security director here, Oscar Stiles, who's a former cop and retired Gloucester County undersheriff.

The dogs and handlers are being trained as part of the Detection and Render Safe Task Force, a new unit that for the first time unites explosives detection units and bomb squads.

When the nine handlers and their dogs are done here, they will eventually be involved in training with bomb squads, said Gorbe.



The true key, though, is getting handlers to move well, so as to allow the dogs freedom to do their jobs, Gorbe said.

"Not everyone is cut out for this," he said. They have to get the dog to obey them, then turn around and loosen those restrictions to allow the animal to freely find explosive material, he explained.

Generally, the dogs are trained to sit when they detect the material they're looking for. When they do, they are rewarded with a handler tossing them a knotted towel, the toys they are trained to seek and enjoy.

Basically, the dogs are trained that when they detect the odor of explosive materials, they will get the toy. It's a combination of their hunting and playing instincts, Wentz explained.

During run-throughs in a building at Sunoco, most of the dogs were eager to work. They enthusiastically sniffed their way down a hallway, poking their noses into trash cans and boxes, onto tables, under cabinets and, when they'd find what they were looking for -- in this case, a small amount of explosive material -- they'd sit.

Some of the dogs are still more enthusiastic than disciplined. They would reach the end of the hallway and start looking around expectantly for their reward. They'd detect the explosive, but not sit down properly. Their training will continue, Gorbe said.

"This is not like training for a drug dog," Wentz noted. If a bomb dog misses its mark, many lives could be lost, he said.

All explosive materials have common links, Gorbe said, and the dogs are trained to find them.

"Hopefully, they'll never find anything, but if it's there, they'll find it," he said.

Future training will take the dogs into helicopters and from one boat to another to simulate boarding techniques, said Gorbe.

Each of the handlers was asked to come up with a training environment in his home area and Wentz contacted Stiles.

"We were able to help out and we're obviously tied into the whole Homeland Security thing," said Sunoco spokesperson Carol A. Sloan.

Gorbe said the handlers will be further trained to do threat analysis before even getting their dogs out of their cars, to decide what areas might hide explosive materials. They also need to recognize when their dogs are too tired to work and when to rest them, despite pressure to make them find a bomb, Gorbe said.

"There's a lot of pressure on the handlers. You can't afford to make a mistake. Explosives are non-forgiving," he said.

Wentz, who has been a police officer for five years, has two daughters, 2 and 7.

"I have to be confident to tell the principal of a school that it's safe for students to go back inside," Wentz said. He said he'd trust any one of the handlers he's training with to make that call, even at his daughter's school.

Since 9-11, he said, it's a case of "not if, but when" his services will be needed. In the old days, he said, bomb dog handlers could spend an entire career without finding an explosive device. Now, said Wentz, it's probably a good chance he'll eventually find something.

"I'm confident enough. I don't even worry about it now," said Wentz.