СAPP law enforcement СAPPofficerСAPP Bella doesnСAPPt make arrests, lead investigations, question suspects, drive a patrol car, issue traffic citations or write police reports. The 2-year-old Belgian MalinoisСAPP expertise is explosives detection, a skill that begins with her specially trained nose for crime.
The K-9, who joined the UL Lafayette Police Department last year, is not a commissioned officer. BellaСAPPs ability to identify materials used to build explosives, however, makes hers a responsibility as hefty as any in law enforcement. ItСAPPs a duty she shares with Lt. Mike LaSalle, her handler and trainer.
СAPPWe conduct searches every day, both random sweeps and suspicious package calls, including for book bags that have been left behind,СAPP he explained. Beyond campus patrols СAPP among vehicles, in hallways or at sports events СAPP Bella and LaSalle are at times called upon to assist other agencies or to sweep K-12 schools. The work СAPPis a necessary function, unfortunately, of the world we live in,СAPP he said.
The pairСAPPs partnership doesnСAPPt end with the close of a shift. Bella lives with LaSalle, who is responsible for her care around the clock. СAPPIt just becomes part of your lifestyle,СAPP said LaSalle, who isnСAPPt complaining.
СAPPSheСAPPs a sweet girl,СAPP he added, an affectionate pooch given to face licks. BellaСAPPs all business on the job, though. During patrols, like most dogs, she will sniff at almost anything. Unlike most dogs, when Bella noses around, itСAPPs with an intent not easily diverted. That ham sandwich in a book bag? A curiosity. The live possum she roused among a bank of sound equipment at Festival International? Nothing to get wound up about. СAPPSheСAPPll show interest, but she wonСAPPt alert,СAPP LaSalle said.
ThatСAPPs because Bella has been programmed, in effect, to dissect smells that her brain either dismisses or translates into an internal command she promptly obeys. When Bella detects an explosives material, she will sit, an action called a final response. It alerts LaSalle that BellaСAPPs olfactory-driven investigatory findings merit further examination. Or, when Bella doesnСAPPt alert, enables him to immediately СAPPeliminate the possibility of a threat or potential risk.СAPP
BellaСAPPs education in explosives detection began as a puppy. She was imported to the U.S. by Police Dogs Centre Holland B.V., a company in the Netherlands that trains and sells police dogs. Bella came to ULPD last year via U.S. K-9, a training and importation company in Kaplan, La. She has been exposed to thousands of smells and potential scenarios; itСAPPs training sharpened daily by LaSalle, who receives yearly certification to handle and train her. BellaСAPPs explosives detection proficiency, he said, rests on a common dog-training technique СAPP tapping into her innate hunting instincts. As a Labrador retriever might be trained to find ducks, sheСAPPs been taught her only meaningful quarry is explosives materials.
The basic tenets of BellaСAPPs training are odor association and positive reinforcement, built around her constant drive to find prey. BellaСAPPs СAPPpreyСAPP is something she considers a toy, a short length of irresistibly fetchable plastic pipe. Bella associates her СAPPtoyСAPP with the odor of materials that would emanate from an explosive device thanks to exhaustive, nuanced and repetitive training. ItСAPPs a system that, at its core, simply conditions Bella to believe sheСAPPs immersed in a never-ending СAPPand lively game to find her toy,СAPP LaSalle explained. He will allow Bella to watch him СAPPhideСAPP a piece of pipe with a material that contains a specific odor. Once she retrieves the pipe, it creates an odor association. BellaСAPPs reward, along with praise, is simply finding and having her toy.
СAPPSo, sheСAPPs really just always looking for it; sheСAPPs always on. ItСAPPs like a kid riding their bicycle through a neighborhood who smells chocolate chip cookies. They know if they find which house itСAPPs coming from, theyСAPPre going to get a cookie,СAPP LaSalle said.
Photo credit: Doug Dugas / СAPP
This article first appeared in the Spring 2023 issue of La Louisiane, The Magazine of the СAPP.