TOPSFIELD, Mass. — Dozens of dogs and their handlers were in Topsfield Wednesday to brush up on some very important skills.
Handlers and canines from law enforcement agencies across New England participated in 'explosives detection' training.
"The dog needs to be able to distinguish the difference between an explosive and a distractor," said Cody Monday, ATF National Canine Division. "When the dog finds the explosive odor, it comes to a sit response."
.@ATFBoston is administering the National Odor Recognition Testing (NORT) to Federal, State and Local law enforcement explosive detection canine teams from the New England area. ATF provides this testing to ensure canines are proficient at identifying current explosive threats. pic.twitter.com/TEA6oM3j0J
— ATF Boston (@ATFBoston) April 4, 2018
Monday is with the National Canine Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The ATF comes annually to run the test - and the timing is no coincidence.
"ATF comes here every year prior to the marathon just to make sure all the dogs are spot on with explosive detection," said Monday.
Most of the dogs training will be stationed along the Boston Marathon route.
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The dogs train to detect ten common explosives. In addition, they train to find homemade explosives - in other words, stuff people can look up on the internet.
"Our chemists and all of our explosives specialists, they research and look to see what's trending in terms of homemade and we come out and make sure all of our state and local partners are up to date on the latest trends," said Monday.
For many dogs and their handlers, this is a refresher course.
Everett Patrolman Anthony Dinuccio has only been working detection dog Mary for nine months.
"Doing the job 17 years itself, you know, and providing protection for everyone was one thing. But, this is another step," said Dinuccio.
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This team will be working the marathon for the first time.
"It's very important and was something that I thought about doing for awhile and my old partner brought me along into it," said Dinuccio.
Teams go through this simple course and are ready to work one of the most storied race courses in the world.
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