​’It is out there to kill’: How K-9 units train to detect fentanyl in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Fentanyl is taking a deadly toll in North Carolina.

According to the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, last year alone, 3,340 people in North Carolina died with fentanyl in their system.

Because the drug is so powerful and potentially deadly, many law enforcement agencies in central North Carolina say their drug-detecting K-9s are not trained to sniff it out. That’s changing though, and CBS 17 got a first-hand look at how a local K-9 trainer is teaching law enforcement teams to find fentanyl and get it off the streets.

Inside a Harnett County training facility, Ken Mathias teaches law enforcement K-9s and handlers to work together to find drugs. Sergeant Chris Collins and his K-9 partner, Spike, work for the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office.  As Spike searches stacks of boxes, Collins looks for the sign that he’s found something. Spike sits when he picks up the target odor, and receives his favorite toy and hearty praise. He just detected fentanyl.

Mathias, the owner of Orchard Knoll K9, has decades of experience as a K-9 handler and trainer. He started the Raleigh Police Department’s K-9 program back in 1983. After retiring from RPD, he served as a K-9 unit coordinator for the State Bureau of Investigation.

Fentanyl is one of many drugs he trains police dogs to detect.

“The rise of fentanyl overdose deaths is exponential,” he noted.

Despite that, CBS 17 has learned that many law enforcement K-9s in central North Carolina are not trained to detect fentanyl. We reached out to more than a dozen law enforcement agencies in the area. Of the agencies that responded to our inquiry, police departments in Cary, Garner, Chapel Hill, and the city of Durham, as well as sheriff’s offices in Orange, Nash, and Edgecombe counties, all responded that their K-9s are not specifically trained to detect fentanyl.

Some agencies noted, however, that fentanyl is often mixed with other drugs that the dogs are trained to detect.

A Durham County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said the agency’s K-9s are trained to detect fentanyl. The Wake County Sheriff’s Office told CBS 17 that the K-9s that work at the detention center are trained to detect fentanyl, but patrol dogs are not.  Raleigh police declined to answer whether their K-9s detect fentanyl, saying they consider it sensitive information, but they noted that canines are trained in accordance with United States Police Canine Association Standards. Several other agencies did not respond to CBS 17’s inquiry.

“Why have a drug dog that does not detect that?” wondered Natalie Beauchaine, who lives in Durham County. “It’s such a killing agent.”

Her son Jake died at age 22 after taking fentanyl.

“He could’ve been married; he could’ve had children. I could be a grandmother,” she said tearfully.

Since her son’s death, she’s connected with others who share similar stories of losing loved ones to fentanyl.

“It is out there to kill, and so many families have been affected by it,” she said.

She wants law enforcement to do all they can to get fentanyl off the streets, including training K-9s to detect it, though she realizes the dangerous nature of the drug could pose a challenge.

“I cannot imagine how you would train a dog to sniff out fentanyl because it’s so powerful,” she said. “I’m sure it’s an evolving process but it needs to happen.”

Many law enforcement agencies cite danger to K-9s and their handlers as the reason their dogs are not trained to detect fentanyl, and the drug does affect dogs. In 2016, three K-9s with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office in Florida needed emergency vet care due to fentanyl exposure.

Still, Mathias says, with safety precautions, K-9s can learn to detect fentanyl, just like they detect other dangerous drugs.

“The reality is our lethal dosage level is much lower than it is for a dog, but we still have a duty to protect our dogs because everything goes through that dog’s nose. We obviously don’t want any issues there,” he noted.

The dogs train on all kinds of drugs in varying amounts. Most drugs used for training, like methamphetamine and cocaine, are confiscated as part of criminal investigations which have already been through the court system.

“After a case has been adjudicated, the evidence in the case – controlled substances, by court order are transferred to law enforcement for the purposes of training,” noted Mathias. “It’s regulated and inspected.”

To teach dogs to detect fentanyl, Mathias uses a device designed specifically for training – a container with a small tube inside. That small tube is infused with fentanyl and sealed inside the container. He says that keeps both the dog and the handler safe.

Minimizing risk of exposure is also why the dogs are trained to simply sit when they find what they’re looking for.

“The natural inclination for a dog is to scratch and dig because that opens up odor. We don’t want them doing that on a package loaded with fentanyl; we don’t want them doing that on a package loaded with heroin; we don’t want them to do that on an explosive,” Mathias explained.

In case a K-9 is exposed, though, handlers are trained to look for any signs the dog needs emergency care. “[They] recognize the effect of whatever the drug may be and learn what remedies are available for that drug and when it’s critical to go to a veterinarian,” Mathias noted. “Once you put a dog on the end of the leash, it’s part of your job. Now, you have a lot more responsibility not just to yourself, but also your partner.”

He said that every handler also carries Narcan, which can reverse an opioid overdose.

“It’s administered to a dog in the same fashion with the nasal cannula as it is to a human,” he added.

While not all K-9s are trained to sniff out fentanyl, Mathias says K-9 teams in North Carolina are already getting the deadly drug off of the streets.

“One of the Harnett County dogs did find a little over two pounds of fentanyl that was wrapped in peanut butter,” Mathias recounted.

He expects more agencies will soon have dogs trained to detect fentanyl.

“Many agencies in communities that are experiencing the increase in overdoses due to fentanyl are adding that as a training,” he said.

“The reality is we can’t get all of it,” Mathias noted, “But it may save one life.”

“If it saved one, that’s a win.”

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