The Newsmagazine of Long Beach Island and Southern Ocean County

By Victoria Ford | on September 14, 2022

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK: Following the retirements of K9 officers Ollie and Raven, Venus joins the force as Det. Zach Wiatrowski’s partner and will perform only narcotics detection. (Photos by Ryan Morrill)

Stafford Township Police K9s Ollie and Raven retired at the beginning of the year. This summer, an almost-3-year-old Belgian Malinois named Venus joined the department as Det. Zach Wiatrowski’s drug-sniffing dog partner.

Ollie and Raven were patrol dogs, he explained, meaning they could do tracking and criminal apprehension and then also narcotics. Venus, Wiatrowksi’s first police dog, will do only narcotics detection, no bite work.

She was born in the Netherlands of a winning bloodline and sent as a puppy to a seller of similar breeds, in Mahwah. The Malinois is one of four varieties of Belgian shepherd, known as reliable working dogs.

The three characteristics to look for in a narcotics dog are the prey, play and search drives, Wiatrowski said. A short initial meeting gives an impression, but not the full picture.

“She had the best (traits) of all the dogs we looked at, so then we took her home,” he said. The first two weeks were a trial period to see how she interacted with Wiatrowski’s family, other dogs and strangers.

For narcotics detection, “we don’t want a dog that’s overly aggressive,” he explained. “Look, she can just sit here. She’s cool. You can pet her.”

Patrol dogs, by contrast, are too aggressive to have around the general public.

A dog’s police work training can start as early as 16 months of age, but most start around 2, Wiatrowski said. Narcotics work is less physically taxing on a dog than patrol work, so a drug-sniffing dog can have a longer career.

When Wiatrowski takes Venus out for training, he calls it “going to work.” To her, it’s a game.

“I could throw this ball all day long, and she just wants to keep going and going,” he said.

They did a month of basic obedience training in July, with the department, in-house. In early August they started one-on-one with trainer Joe Nick of the Atlantic County John “Sonny” Burke K9 Academy. The program can run eight to 12 weeks, depending how well the dog and handler respond. Nick estimates Venus will graduate by early October.

“When you’re in drug school, and you watch her work, she indicates on it, you’re like ‘Wow, this is pretty cool,’” Wiatrowski said.

He marveled at the mental connection he and Venus have quickly established.

“I can’t find the drugs because I can’t smell it, so she’s literally working. I have to read her behavior, but she can’t talk to me,” he said. Venus looks to her partner as if to ask, “Where is my toy?” But he must let her figure it out on her own. Meanwhile they are getting to know each other’s minds and body language.

Drug school is less about discipline and more like playing, according to Wiatrowski. The goal is her enjoyment “You want her to have so much fun,” he said.

They play fetch with rolled-up towels that have been sealed in a bucket with a quantity of an illicit substance, to permeate the fibers with the scent. Praise teaches her to associate the scent with reward, and that’s how she imprints certain drugs. She knows cocaine, crack, meth, heroin and ecstasy. When she finds the scent, she sits to indicate, and waits to be rewarded with the towel.

“These dogs are major assets,” Wiatrowski explained. If police have a reliable tip about drugs in a car, they can ask to search the car, but if the answer is no, the dog’s go-ahead is as good as a warrant.

“We pull her out, she runs the car, she does sit, indicate positive, we can search the car on that,” he said.

Dogs previously trained to detect cannabis were made moot by its legalization. Today’s K9s are unaffected by its scent.

Stafford is trying something new by putting a K9 officer in the drug unit – the dogs were always on the road before, Wiatrowski said. Depending how it all goes, the department may add a second K9.

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