The Idaho State Police recently added “Bingo”, a
Labrador and Golden Retriever mix, who is almost two years old to its District
4 office headquartered in Jerome. Bingo
has joined Trooper. Steve Otto on the road as a drug detection dog as part of
ISP’s drug interdiction team. Bingo is
the only K9 member of the team.
Bingo was obtained with funds from a grant through
the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program through the Office of
National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Otto selected Bingo from a group of about
thirteen dogs in Bellingham, Washington, however Bingo hails from Boise. Through a turn of events the trainer in
Bellingham had recently received him from an elderly woman who was no longer
able to care for him. Otto and Bingo left
Washington and headed to Utah for two months of extensive training from the
Utah POST K9 Academy.
Bingo and Trp. Otto are certified by the Idaho Peace
Officer Standards and Training (POST) and they both continue to train with the
Twin Falls Police Department’s canine team every week to meet the 16 hours of
required monthly training. Bingo is only
trained to detect illicit drugs and will not be used for apprehension of
subjects. Certification includes
standards for detection dogs to obey basic control commands that most
well-behaved dogs should obey such as “sit” and “stay” but they must also be
able to find drugs in residential and commercial buildings, vehicles,
containers and exterior open areas. The
controlled substances that canines are required to detect to be certified
include marijuana, cocaine, heroin and opiate derivatives, and
methamphetamine.
As a K9 handler, Trp. Otto cares for Bingo
twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and Bingo lives with Otto and his
family.
If further information is desired, please contact
Teresa Baker, ISP Public Information Officer, at 884-7122 or to schedule an
interview with Trp. Otto and Bingo.
