Due to the impending legalization of cannabis in Virginia, several local law enforcement agencies are being forced to retire their police K-9s. Many of the area’s drug-sniffing dogs are out of a job including Mambo, a five-year-old Belgian Malinois narcotics K-9.
For the last three-and-a-half years, Cumberland County Deputy Sheriff Ryan Bates has worked as the sole handler of Mambo. Although young for a police K-9, Mambo’s years of duty have been spent patrolling the streets searching for countless firearms and drugs.
Mambo is a dedicated worker, but he had to be taken off the force Feb. 28 of this year.
In March, new legislation went into effect which removes the odor of cannabis as a probable cause for police to search a person or vehicle. Since Mambo was trained to detect numerous narcotics, including cannabis, the new law plus the impending legalization of cannabis coming July 1, 2021 meant the Sheriff’s Office could no longer allow Mambo to search for narcotics.
Mambo’s unemployment is just one example of a growing problem among police K-9 units across the commonwealth and the country as more and more states legalize cannabis.
Bates stated in an interview that the problem has to do with the issue of differentiating between the different drugs a narcotics K-9 can alert to. Since dogs utilized by law enforcement are not trained to alert differently based on what drug they are detecting, handlers cannot determine a difference between an alert for an illegal drug versus the newly-legal cannabis, nor can they smell a difference between a legal amount of weed versus an illegal amount.
The issue has been getting some agencies in trouble in recent years. According to the Associated Press, a 2015 court case out of Moffat County, Colorado, resulted in a panel of judges ruling the police’s search of a truck illegal after it was determined an officer’s drug-sniffing dog, Kilo, may have been alerting to the scent of cannabis rather than methamphetamines.
Cannabis is legal in Colorado for anyone over the age of 21.
In Prince Edward County, part of Sheriff L.A. “Tony” Epps’ platform during his 2019 run for office was his strong desire to implement a K-9 program in the county. Epps used to be a bloodhound handler for the sheriff’s office during the mid-90s, but the department had not had any dogs on duty between then and Epps’ recent election.
Epps explained he started working on developing a K-9 program as soon as he took office. The Prince Edward Sheriff’s Office received a fully certified K-9, a labrador named Badger, from the Department of Corrections approximately a year ago. Immediately, Epps sent Prince Edward’s Sgt. Brandon Yoder to a 12-week class to train with the dog.
Yoder and Badger graduated at the top of their class, but the legalization of marijuana meant the officer had to stop using the dog.
Although Mambo has retired from the line of duty, Badger was donated to the local Piedmont Regional Jail, where he is now training with a new officer. Cannabis possession is still illegal for inmates at the jail, so Badger will still be able to perform his drug-sniffing duties at his new place of work.
In the one year Badger was on the force, his biggest bust included more than three pounds of cannabis.
