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We regularly report on the countless GSU and Strike Team drug and gun busts on the news. But there is one other police unit that has its own unique way of sweeping the streets. And that is the K-9 Unit, a team of highly trained dogs who use their noses and their instincts to do what human cops could never do.  Courtney Weatherburne put them to the test:

Amigo is a German Shepard. He is 4 years old. He might look like just a beautiful guard dog, but he is far from ordinary, he is a K-9 officer.

The Unit has 7 police dogs that are all highly trained to detect drugs, guns and explosives.

And like any other officer, they work along with a partner.

PC Baron Lee Clare - Amigo’s handler
"Every morning you as the handler come to work, you have to create a bond with the dog; that means taking him out, having him run around, groom him and just be a brother and sister together."

And that bond is demonstrated out on the field. Handler Clare just gives the command and Amigo goes searching.

And it’s not too long before Amigo discovers the gun.

PC Baron Lee Clare - Amigo’s handler
"Whenever the dog smell the odour, the dog will perform a sit indication see it there."

And of course, no good deed goes unrewarded; Handler Clare praises Amigo for his find with his favourite toy.

And the 9 millimetre pistol is retrieved.

That is the same technique used on 7 year old explosives detection officer, Apollo. ….He does an initial sweep of the classroom before sniffing out the bomb powder hidden behind this podium.

Sgt. Brent Hamilton- Head, K-9 Unit
"Only dogs are the only creatures on earth that can smell from two areas, from his nose and from his mouth. Under his mouth, where we call the canine, we call Jacobson Organ and that has detectors, so a dog can salivate and bring in the smell, if his nose gets tired."

Those finely tuned senses led the team to this abandoned lot in San Martin where drug peddlers normally hide their stash.

Belgian Malinios Tyler didn’t find any drugs in the area this time.

So we planted weed beneath some dried leaves.

Then we stood aside and watched Tyler do her search.

"He is pumping up his dog, you see his tail, he released his dog off the leash, he is doing an off leash."

After scouting the area for a few minutes; Tyler finally got up close …..and dug out the buried weed.

But these K-9 officers aren’t only skilled in finding drugs and guns, they can also find people.

Courtney Weatherburne
"So we are here at the Guanacaste Park in Belmopan where the K-9 Unit will be conducting a missing persons operation, the missing person will be me. Corporal Matute and Corporal Cano will be taking me 500 meters into the park where tracking dog, Radar will be finding me, with the help of my comb of course.â€￾

Jerome Tush - Radar’s Handler
"The technique is the scent of the person, that’s the way he starts, the victim drops the odour from there they start, they smell the persons scent and from there he follows."

"Down, down."

And Radar picked up my scent from the comb that I left behind, and he faithfully followed my trail.

I walked down these stairs as a diversion but he quickly figured out that trick…… and kept on looking for me.

I was hiding just around the corner when Radar found me.

Jerome Tush - Radar’s Handler
"That’s a good boy."

Now all these impressive skills don’t only come from natural instincts.

Back at the training camp, I tried the role of handler but …..it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, that’s because it takes months of training for both the dogs and their handlers.

SGT. Brent Hamilton - Head, K-9 Unit
"A K-9 officer must have high integrity, his integrity must second none, he must attitude towards life, because we are dealing with animals and we must know how to be
Compatible, the officer must not be a stressful officer, he must not have domestic problems, and of course he can’t be someone who does not like dogs. When that criteria has been found, then he goes into getting to know the dog and training with the dog. It takes about 6 weeks for a handler to get certified with a dog and it takes almost 6 months to train any dog, whether it is bomb, drugs, firearm."

But even with all this specialization, at the end of the day, what makes this relationship work is the centuries old bond between a man and his best friend…. 

There are 9 personnel in the K-9 Unit and 7 dogs. The Unit is based in Belmopan and Inspector Hamilton says that eventually they want to branch out to different parts of the country. The dogs are brought to Belize through a partnership with the US Government.