A crew of NYPD police dogs known nationally for their explosive-sniffing expertise has been flown to Paris for two weeks to protect Olympic athletes and spectators.
The all-expenses-paid trip is sponsored by the French government and comes at no cost to New York City taxpayers, an NYPD spokesperson said. One of the dogs was photographed posing politely in front of the Eiffel Tower on July 15.
“They’re one of the premiere K-9 units in the country,” Mike Ritland, former U.S. Navy SEAL canine trainer, said of the NYPD dogs.
The NYPD did not share details about the mission, including how many dogs were flown out or how much French taxpayers shelled out for the trip. Olympic officials did not respond to an inquiry. Gothamist could not immediately reach the French Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the national police.
Police and military canines are trained to detect possible explosives by sniffing out the odors of raw ingredients like TNT and ammonium nitrate, according to Christopher Cappa, another longtime U.S. Navy SEAL canine handler and trainer.
When asked how the dogs would detect dangerous odors in a sea of people at the Olympic opening ceremonies, Ritland said crowd size and accompanying smells are irrelevant.
“If there is an explosive odor present, all the other odors disappear and the dog focuses on that,” he said.
“If you and I walk into a pizza restaurant, we smell pizza,” Ritland continued. “When these dogs walk in, they smell not just every ingredient – but the preservative on the cheese.”
A handler will typically spend an entire career with one dog and learn how to identify when the dog is indicating a warning, according to Ritland. The dog will give a “passive alert,” like sitting, downing or standing very still, if it smells a potential explosive, Ritland said. When the dog uncovers narcotics or human remains, it gives an “active alert,” like barking or pawing.
Most police and military agencies rely on Belgian Malinois — “a lighter, more athletic version of a German Shepherd” — to staff their units, according to Cappa. The dogs are primarily bred in Europe and immigrate to the U.S. on dog passports.
The NYPD has about 145 dogs, making its canine unit the largest of any local police department by “leaps and bounds,” according to John Pappas, former commanding officer of the NYPD transit bureau canine unit. Pappas was the longest-serving NYPD canine commander in the department’s history.
“It’s rare that we send our dogs internationally,” Pappas said. But the canines traveled to Haiti to help with rescue operations following an earthquake, he said. They flew in a C130 military plane for that mission, but often fly commercial with their handlers.
Pappas traveled to Israel last year when the Israeli National Canine Unit asked him to help with counterterrorism training, he said.
Under his tenure, the NYPD started paying for medical and end-of-life care for the dogs once they retire after an eight to 10-year career, Pappas said.