K-9 Reinforcements to Help Put the Bite on Drug, Alien Smugglers

The U.S. Border Patrol hopes to give smugglers of narcotics and illegal aliens a tougher time crossing the Mexican border into the United States now that Wodon, Barry, Kelly, Rocky, Bart and Brando are on the job.

The six dogs--Dutch and Belgian Malinois that have been trained to sniff out drugs and people hidden in vehicles--are part of a canine program launched Tuesday by the Border Patrol in the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service’s Western Region.

It will be the first time that trained dogs have been used to check vehicles at or near the U.S.-Mexico border in the Western United States, said Dale Cozart, chief patrol agent of the Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector.

Skyrocketing Drug Seizures

The dogs’ time has come “because we are seeing skyrocketing drug seizures, and illegal aliens become more and more subjected to life-threatening situations by smugglers,” said Harold Ezell, INS western regional commissioner.

The dogs are unique, according to their trainer, David Reaver, because they are trained to detect narcotics hidden in secret compartments of vehicles, as well as hidden people. Reaver, owner of Adlerhorst International Inc. of Riverside, which supplies dogs for more than 85 law enforcement agencies in the Southwestern United States, said that unlike most drug-sniffing dogs, these dogs are trained not to bark or scratch when they detect illegal drugs or people in the car. Reaver said that the dogs are 95% reliable in finding drugs and hidden passengers.

The animals, valued at about $6,000 each, are expected to save the Border Patrol between 800 to 1,000 man-hours a year, Reaver said. Since the dogs simply signal their trainers by sitting or stopping when they detect illegal drugs or hidden passengers, Reaver said, they are expected to cause much less damage to vehicles being inspected than regular drug-sniffing dogs.

In front of 25 reporters and photographers at the San Clemente Border checkpoint, Reaver and members of the Border Patrol demonstrated the abilities of the dogs by hiding a man in a concealed compartment in the rear of a station wagon. When Brando, a black male Dutch Malinois, reached the door nearest the compartment, he stopped, signaling to his trainer that he had detected the scent of something.

Dogs Perform

Border Patrol agents also demonstrated the dogs’ ability to sniff out drugs; they hid a bag of marijuana in the grill of the same car. Wodon, a brown male Dutch Malinois, circled the car and then signaled his trainer by sitting in front of the car that he had detected the narcotics. Both dogs were rewarded with a small toy.

Reaver said the dogs have been trained to associate playtime with the smells of drugs such as cocaine, marijuana and heroin. “You can put moth balls or ammonia or anything on this grill, and the dogs will just ignore it because they have no association with it.”

Border Patrol agents, who have volunteered to work with the dogs, will keep the animals at their homes. The dogs, which respond to commands given in Dutch, will work eight-hour shifts with their trainers and will be rotated to various checkpoints throughout the area, Cozart said.

The dogs will be used at Border Patrol checkpoints from California to Arizona, Cozart said.

Two of the animals will be assigned to the Yuma Border Patrol Sector, where they will be used at checkpoints along the Mexican border between the Arizona-California line and Tucson. A third dog will be assigned to checkpoints between Tucson and the New Mexico state line, and a fourth will be used in the Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, between the Arizona state line and El Centro. The remaining two dogs will be used to check vehicles at the Border Patrol checkpoints on the San Diego Freeway south of San Clemente and on Interstate 15 near Temecula in Riverside County, Cozart said.

INS spokesman Joe Flanders said the service decided to launch the canine program in the western region following a successful five-month trial project in Texas, where several dogs were used to check vehicles crossing the international border.

The program comes in response to rapidly escalating drug seizures in the Southwest, Cozart said. The value of illicit drugs seized in a three-month period from October, 1987, through January, has increased 168% over the same period the previous year, INS officials said. The dollar amount rose from $46 million to $123 million for that period, they said.

INS and Border Patrol officials could not estimate the impact the dogs will have on narcotics smuggling across the U.S.-Mexican border, but Ezell said he expects the canine program to “reduce it substantially.”

Border Patrol agents will continue their practice of stopping suspicious vehicles traveling on freeways near the checkpoints and directing the drivers to an area off to the side. There the dogs and their trainers will inspect the vehicles, Ezell said.

By finding illegal aliens who are being smuggled under dangerous conditions, Ezell said, the dogs also will be saving people’s lives.