Bomb sniffing dogs protecting the city that never sleeps!!!
I don’t know how many of you have been to New York City recently, but it is a changed city in many ways from the city prior to 9/11/2001. Of course the twin towers are gone, and the memorials at ground zero are their for everyone to remember.
Many say what happened on that day should never happen again and thanks to a federal grant and dogs like Clipper, hopefully the tragedy felt by millions that day will be the last. I was down in New York City last week, specifically down in the financial district off of Wall Street. This was 1 day prior to the Pope’s arrival in New York City, and it was evident then that there was a new security initiative taking hold in the city. There were NYPD officers all over and with them, there were dogs like Clipper, shown above.
Clipper is a bomb sniffing dog. That means he has been trained to detect gun powder, commercial explosives and military explosives. Bomb sniffing dogs have long been present in international airports and other cargo transporting venues. The initiative of the New York City Police Department to use bomb sniffing dogs in the subways and other high profile areas in New York City is possible, in part due to counterterrorism funding from the federal govenment. The dogs to be used in Operation TORCH will not only be used in the subways, but in and near other NYC landmarks such as, Grand Central Terminal, Herald Square, and Times Square.
Many of the dogs that are used for bomb sniffing, ironically enough are not from this country. Most are European bred as Europeans breed a much better quality of working dogs than what appears to be bred in the United States. That is the basic opinion of many bomb sniffing dog trainers. The temperament, attitude and ability to do the work all contributes to a dog being chosen for this very special task.
For our continued safety, we thank those hard working dogs and those who share their jobs!!!
April 26th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Thx for the link!