Dallas PD sends officer and K9 to help with Super Bowl security

Dallas Police has a presence in Las Vegas for Super Bowl LVIII — and that includes a four-legged officer.

Sr. Cpl. Angela Arredondo and her partner, K9 Apollo, were selected to be part of the security team in and around Allegiant Stadium.

"Apollo is an explosives detection K9," says Sr. Cpl. Arredondo. "He is trained in many, many different explosive odors."

Their job is to make sure that the entire stadium — every nook and cranny — is safe for everyone to enjoy on game day.

"The first night, there was a bunch of K9 teams that swept the entire stadium," says Arredondo, "and they just made sure there was absolutely nothing there, so it's totally safe for all the fans to come and enjoy the game and not worry about anything except for who's going to win."

And Apollo, a German Shorthaired Pointer who's almost six years old, screens every single thing that goes inside the stadium.

"Any vehicle, any equipment, media equipment, food, I mean anything that you can think of that's going into the stadium is being swept by a K9 team and bomb techs before it even goes in," Arredondo says.

Arredondo says it's a once in a lifetime trip as she gets ready to wrap up her career.

"This has been the most amazing adventure for my partner and I," says Arredondo. "We won't have another chance to go to the Super Bowl because it'll be other handlers' turn to go after us."

The two have been documenting their journey on social media, including the drive from Dallas to Las Vegas.

"We did Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo. We did a ghost tour in Albuquerque, which was fun," Arredondo says. "We did the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest on our way to Las Vegas. We stopped at the Hoover Dam."

Dallas Police leadership is very supportive of the department's presence at the Super Bowl and other high-security events.

"Chief (Eddie) Garcia is great about wanting to help his federal partners and always wanting to make sure that any law enforcement agency that needs assistance that he's there for us," says Arredondo.

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