DOGS JOIN DEEP TEAM
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Environmental Conservation Officer Holly Bernier gets a friendly lick from her K-9 partner Saydee after they and three other K-9 teams graduated into department service Thursday at DEEP Marine Headquarters in Old Lyme. The four teams are certified in tracking and evidence recovery. See story and another photo,
Old Lyme — The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s police force officially expanded Thursday by 16 legs, four wagging tails and four furry faces eager to help locate lost children and hikers and serve as goodwill ambassadors for the agency.
“When we go into the campgrounds and the parks, the kids come over and ask us questions,” said Environmental Conservation Police Officer Karen Reilly, with her newly certified K- 9 partner Hunter on a leash at her side. One of Reilly’s regular patrols with Hunter will be at Hammonasset Beach State Park in Madison.
“We get a lot of missing children on the beach and the campground,” she said. “It’s like a city there in the summer.”
Hunterandthree other Labrador retrievers — Saydee, Ruger and Ellie — along with their handlers Reilly and fellow officers William Logiodice, Holly Bernier and Erin Crossman, graduated from an intensive four-week training program marked by ceremonies Thursday at DEEP’s Marine Headquarters. The training, run by the K-9 trainers from the state police, took place several at recreation areas including Rocky Neck in East Lyme to acquaint them with some of the locations where they will be working.
“We’ve been training in the woods and we’ve been through swamps and in the brush and in urban areas, to acclimate them to traffic,” said Bernier, who described her partner Saydee as “a very lovable young girl with a large amount of drive.”
The new K-9 unit is DEEP’s first in more than a decade, said EnCon Police Commander Kyle Overturf.
“You can’t beat Labs for public outreach,” he said.
EnCon officers undertake about 30 to 40 search- andrescue operations each year, he added.
The dogs will be used in state parks, forests and boat launches for search-and-rescue operations and evidence recovery as well as routine patrols, and may be trained in the future for drug detection, cadaver searches and wildlife detection, DEEP Deputy Commissioner Susan Frechette said.
Three of the dogs were puppies born to a dog that came from South Carolina to Connecticut Labrador Rescue in Haddam, while the fourth came from a litter born to a dog owned by the Case family of Colebrook. All the dogs were donated to DEEP. The dogs have been with their handlers since they were puppies.
“These officers really made a commitment,” Frechette said. “These are working animals that need constant reinforcement and training 24-7.” j.benson@theday.com