Police dogs trained to sniff out fentanyl

It’s the latest tool in the RCMP arsenal: police dogs being trained to sniff out fentanyl in hopes of getting the illicit drug off the city streets.

During a media interview, 660 NEWS was introduced to Eve, a five-and-a-half-year-old German shepherd, where she detected the substance for only the second time.

One by one, she goes to holes in the wall and sits once she sniffs out the hidden drug.

Her reward is a rubber ball or chew toy in her handler’s hands.

It may sound simple, but this how she and the other 134 dogs now working the front-line were trained — and it appears to be working.

Eve’s handler Corporal Dan Block says the dogs are a big help.

“There’s definitely a different element to searching out fentanyl, you have to take that extra precaution because it is so deadly,” said Block.

Senior Trainer Staff Sergeant Gary Creed admits they had reservations about it when they first started.

“Is it still dangerous? Yes, but it is no more dangerous now than the other traditional drugs that we train our dogs on such cocaine and heroin,” said Creed.

The program has been so successful other countries are now asking the RCMP how it works.

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