Courtesy photo Menominee County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Vince Studer and K-9 Officer Dina. Studer and Dina are the newest K-9 unit at Menominee County Sheriff’s Department.

ESCANABA — Many local law enforcement agencies had to face a new challenge recently. Departments statewide had to readjust the roles of their narcotics detection trained K-9 officers after marijuana was legalized in Michigan.

Recreational marijuana became legal in Michigan after Proposal 1 passed Nov. 6, 2018 in a statewide election.

Concerns were raised on the future roles of police dogs and the admissibility of evidence uncovered by their marijuana-sensitive snouts.

Since recreational marijuana became legal, K-9s in Michigan are no longer being trained to detect marijuana. But what about the dogs that were trained before?

Many agencies in the local area explained the majority of police dogs are dual purpose canines, meaning they’re trained in more than just one specialization, so many departments are keeping K-9 units intact until the K-9 officers are ready for retirement.

In Schoolcraft, Delta and Menominee counties, there are 10 K-9 units within Manistique Public Safety, Menominee County Sheriff’s Department, Delta County Sheriff’s Department, Michigan State Police – Gladstone Post, Escanaba Public Safety and Gladstone Public Safety.

Some units had to readjust the roles of their K-9 units if the K-9s were trained to detect marijuana. Some units were proactive and did not train their K-9s to detect marijuana, and some were trained after the law changed.

Michigan State Police – Gladstone Post, which serves Schoolcraft, Delta and Menominee counties, has one K-9 unit.

Trooper Kyle Kelley and K-9 Officer Wick have been partners at Gladstone since April 2019.

Wick is certified in human tracking, narcotics detection, aggression/handler protection, building searches, property searches, area searches and obedience.

Kelley explained Wick, a five-year-old male German shepherd, had a partner prior to himself.

Wick was trained by Trooper Mack Schlicht in 2015 in Lansing at the MSP Canine Training Center.

According to Kelley, Wick was assigned to Trooper Schlicht out of the 8th District Michigan State Police Hometown Security Team.

Since the legalization of marijuana, Michigan State Police have been investing in training new dogs as the current dogs come up for retirement.

“The new dogs are being trained in narcotics detection without imprinting marijuana on them,” Kelley said. “Currently, as a unit, around 70 percent of our marijuana imprinted dogs have been replaced with dogs that are trained to not detect marijuana.”

With Wick having been trained prior to the legalization, he was imprinted on marijuana.

“Wick and I have been affected the same as the rest of the Michigan State Police canine teams who have been trained to detect marijuana,” Kelley said.

He added the legalization of marijuana has made day to day canine use more challenging, but not impossible, for Wick and himself.

With a recent addition, the Delta County Sheriff’s Department has two K-9 units.

Deputy Chad Newton and K-9 Officer Sage completed training in January.

Sage, a female Dutch shepherd, is certified in aggression, building searches, tracking, article searches, obedience and narcotics detection.

The newest addition to Delta County Sheriff’s Department were trained a little over a year after the law changed so marijuana was not imprinted. The other K-9 unit came into Delta County before recreational marijuana was legal, however, they did not train to detect marijuana, as well.

Deputy Jamie McDonough and K-9 Officer Jet have been a certified K-9 unit since the fall of 2017.

Jet, a 3 1/2-year-old male Dutch shepherd, is certified in narcotics detection, handler protection, building searches, article searches and tracking.

“He’s a dual purpose patrol dog,” McDonough said.

He explained it was Sheriff Ed Oswald’s decision to not have Jet imprinted on marijuana.

According to McDonough, it is a simple process to train a K-9 officer a new scent to detect, so the thought process was if recreational marijuana did not pass in the election, then Jet would have been imprinted on marijuana.

The Delta County Sheriff’s Department knew there would be a gray area in regards to K-9 units trained to detect marijuana if the law passed, so the department decided it was better to wait it out, McDonough said.

Menominee County Sheriff’s Department has four K-9 units trained in drug detection and another K-9 unit trained in bomb detection on contract.

The K-9 units trained in drug detection include Sgt. Tina Nast and K-9 Officer Avery, Sgt. Tom Draze and K-9 Officer Brix, Deputy Dave Ashby and K-9 Officer Vesta, and Deputy Vince Studer and K-9 Officer Dina.

Three of the four units were trained before the law changed and are imprinted on marijuana.

Avery, a 9-year-old male English black lab, is a single purpose narcotics detection dog that is semi-retired and only works in the jail.

Brix, an 8-year-old male Belgian Malinois, is trained in drug detection, handler protection, search and rescue, area search and article search.

Vesta, an 8 1/2-year-old female Dutch shepherd, has the same certifications as Brix.

Dina, a 1 1/2-year-old female Belgian Malinois, is trained in drug detection, tracking, article search, aggression and control. Dina was trained after the law changed, in the fall of 2019.

According to Sheriff Kenny Marks, when the law passed different agencies in Michigan thought the best course of action was to decommission all the K-9s trained in marijuana detection.

He explained the K-9 program in Menominee County operates completely on donations and it would be irresponsible to get rid of the dogs when altering how the units function was still viable.

Marks said conducting searches with K-9 officers during traffic stops is only a small portion of what his K-9 units do, and since all of his K-9 units are trained in detecting narcotic pills they have always had to be careful when conducting narcotic searches because pills can be illegal or legal depending on if the person has a prescription or not.

He added K-9s conduct narcotic searches during traffic stops only when the person pulled over is already going to be arrested for another offense and the vehicle would be impounded and searched regardless.

When it comes to drug detection, the department utilizes the K-9 officers on school campuses, corporate properties, homeless shelters, the jail and any place that contacts the department.

Marks explained drug detection work in schools, the jail and other corporate settings are drug free zones, so detecting marijuana would not be a concern as it would still be illegal in those settings.

The three K-9 officers still trained to detect marijuana are getting closer to retirement age.

Marks said the dogs will retire once they hit retirement age and will go to live with their handlers, not anytime sooner.

Overall, the function of a K-9 officer is far more than just drug detection, according to Marks.

He said the number one job of a K-9 officer is protecting its handler and the public.

“That’s its greatest mission,” he said.

Although Schoolcraft Sheriff’s Department does not have a K-9 unit, Manistique Public Safety has one K-9 unit.

Officer Craig Jankowski is the handler to K-9 Officer Narco, a 2 1/2-year-old male German shepherd.

Although Narco became a full-fledged K-9 officer in September 2018, he was not trained to alert on marijuana.

According to Manistique Public Safety Director Ken Golat, the department saw legislation changing when instituting the K-9 program so Narco was not trained in marijuana detection, but trained on other drugs.

Escanaba Public Safety Department has one K-9 unit.

Sgt. Gary Sovey and K-9 Officer Dag, a 9-year-old male Belgian Malinois, are the current K-9 unit at EPSD.

According to Sovey, the K-9 program at Escanaba started in 2000 with one narcotic patrol K-9 and one explosive patrol K-9.

Sovey said he certified with K-9 Dag in October of 2014. Dag is certified in narcotics detection for both building and vehicles, tracking, obedience, aggression control, article search, area search and building search.

With his original training taking place in 2014, Dag is certified in marijuana detection.

According to Sovey, the legalization of marijuana effected local K-9 units because all narcotic detection canines trained post legalization have been trained without the detection of marijuana.

Gladstone Public Safety’s K-9 unit wasn’t established until 2019, so Kam was not trained to detect marijuana.

Kam is the first K-9 officer at Gladstone Public Safety.

Officer Ryan Peterson and K-9 Officer Kam were trained in drug searches/seizures, rescues, and school and public demonstrations in October 2019, almost a year after marijuana was legalized in the state.