Local K9 Officers on Duty to Engage with Forensics Students

New York State Troopers Porteus, Gelbman, and Wolensky stopped by forensics classes at Somers High School to speak to students about how their K9 partners assist them with investigations using their heightened sense of smell and specialized training.

K9s Fortini and Hover are both trained in tracking (searching for criminals who are on the run or missing persons), article detection (finding lost items or weapons), handler protection (trained to bite when given a command), and building searches. Fortini is also trained in narcotics detection, in which she can detect 6 different narcotics and search for cadavers, whereas Hover is specially trained in explosives detection. K9s display different behaviors when detecting scents, which are called passive and aggressive indicators. For example, a narcotics K9 is trained to scratch and sit when it finds a scent, whereas the response to finding an explosive is to sit and be silent, so generally, K9s would not be trained in both narcotics and explosives.

“One way we train them is with a wall of scents. They’ll be sniffing a wall, and then suddenly, they’ll smell something different. When they locate that different smell, they get their toy,” said Officer Gelbman. “This is a big game to them.”

Fortini demonstrated her abilities by finding an item with a human scent outside. Before students went outside for the demonstration, an officer hid an object on the school grounds. Even in the rain, Fortini was able to quickly pinpoint its location. Once the object was found, she went into a down position, the alert response she is trained to do when she finds a scent related to a missing person.

Hover is an explosive K9 and was able to demonstrate his ability by locating a training pouch filled with a scent made from a chemical compound that represents an explosive or accelerant. The training pouch was hidden in advance, and he was able to locate it precisely, in the exact drawer it was stored in. Once found, Hover’s behavior changed; he started breathing through his nose instead of panting, pinpointing the scent. Once he found the exact location, he sat directly in front of the cabinet containing the pouch.

“Each dog is trained to recognize eight odors. It could be wire, powder, fuse, or compounds, and they’ll smell it,” said Officer Wolensky. “Those eight odors can help detect over 80 different types of explosives.”

Training for all K9s includes suspect apprehensions and extractions, as well as tracking. Officers spoke about training techniques and shared real-life examples of when that training was used to apprehend suspects.

“If we have a vehicle pulled over and the person will not exit the vehicle for some reason, the K9s are another tool we can utilize to help with extractions,” said Officer Gelbman.

“We can pop the window, and the dogs can jump right through them to help extract a suspect,” added Officer Porteus. “They are strong enough to pull a person out of a vehicle.”

Visits from local police officers help students relate the information they have been learning in class to real-life situations, creating deeper connections between in-class and out-of-class learning. Throughout the year, students have also been visited by different law enforcement agencies and even take a field trip to a nearby prison. Forensics classes approach learning with a holistic, hands-on style that engages the students on multiple levels to further their understanding of the material.