Drug dog’s visit educates Kaneland students about consequences of drugs

Drug dogs visit educates Kaneland students about consequences of drugs

By: Morgan Buerke, Reporter

By Morgan Buerke, Reporter

A visit from Darkar, a police dog trained to sniff out drugs, helped Kaneland High School health teacher Cindy Miller educate students about the consequences of drug possession and use on Oct. 1.

“Drug dogs have found children [and] they have confiscated thousands of drugs. They have made students and faculty aware that we are a drug-free school and that we will not tolerate the use of drugs,” Miller said.

Deputy Terry Hoffman brought his canine companion to the high school library, where he gave a presentation about drug dogs to students in Miller’s Contemporary Health class. Dakar, who was born in Hungary in 2007, has been with Hoffman since last November. All of Dakar’s commands are in Hungarian so that Hoffman can command him without anyone knowing what he’s been told to do.

Hoffman said that he has to watch closely for signs made by the dog because Dakar understands what his job is better than the police do. He points his nose and stares at any drug that he finds, but Hoffman knows Dakar’s just playing when he isn’t completely focused on the drug.

Hoffman said that he trains Dakar every day.

“I spend more time with this dog than my family. Police dogs are probably one of the most valuable tools to officers,” Hoffman said.

Junior Danielle Micek was one of the students at the presentation.

“It was interesting. I thought the dogs were a good idea,” Micek said.

Dakar is trained in narcotics detection, tracking, building searches, evidence recovery area searches and handler protection, but Hoffman said that there were signs of Dakar being trained wrong when he went into a crime scene and didn’t bite a stationary person.

As a new method of training, Hoffman got police officers into bite suits and told them to stay completely still and Dakar would have to go bite them.

“We have to train the way we go out into the street. I have no doubt, now, that he will bite a stationary person,” Hoffman said.