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Fentanyl And Other Synthetic Opioids: A Danger To Police And K-9s In The Field

City of Dayton

Police K-9 units around the country have had to switch gears when it comes to using drug-sniffing dogs. That’s because powerful, synthetic opioids like fentanyl and carfentanyl are proving harmful to police officers and police dogs alike.

  Sgt. Randy Beane heads the K-9 unit for the Dayton Police Department.  He says the department is stepping up its efforts to keep both officers and their canine assistants safe.

 

“If we would get a package from the U.S. post office and they said, ‘hey, we believe there’s fentanyl in it,” the officers wouldn’t do a sniff on it, because it’s not worth the risk to the dogs of having them overdose and potentially dying from it,” he says.

 

The Dayton Police Department currently uses five police dogs, and so far the department has not experienced any overdoses.

 

Last September three police dogs in Florida, searching for drugs, overdosed after inhaling trace amounts of fentanyl, the Associated Press reported. The dogs were revived with the use of NARCAN.

 

In Dayton, Beane says DPD officers who work alongside dogs also carry an injectable form of the anti-overdose medicine, supplied by a veterinarian.

 

Beane also says police officers no longer conduct their own field tests on suspected drugs.

 

To avoid possible overdose, the department now requires officers to wear rubber gloves when handling substances and send drug evidence to a lab for testing instead.

 

Jerry began volunteering at WYSO in 1991 and hosting Sunday night's Alpha Rhythms in 1992. He joined the YSO staff in 2007 as Morning Edition Host, then All Things Considered. He's hosted Sunday morning's WYSO Weekend since 2008 and produced several radio dramas and specials . In 2009 Jerry received the Best Feature award from Public Radio News Directors Inc., and was named the 2023 winner of the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors Best Anchor/News Host award. His current, heart-felt projects include the occasional series Bulletin Board Diaries, which focuses on local, old-school advertisers and small business owners. He has also returned as the co-host Alpha Rhythms.