In this photo from left to right, Chris Sullivan and his guest Jerry Hammond and Dorsta, Amy Hocking and Jerry’s replacement Tom Horten  of CB Canine Unit

Jerry and Dorsta are retiring soon, and Tom will be taking his place with a new canine. The cost of training an officer and canine is 28,000 which to some may seem like a lot but the amount of seized property in just one search can pay for that quickly. They train for both narcotics and explosives, though not at the same time. Jerry and Dorsta gave us a presentation with Dorsta finding 4 hidden packages which had small amounts of paraphernalia in them. the came in the room with Jerry leading, when Dorsta got a sniff of narcotics she stopped and then smelled around and sat a close as possible to the package. Then she would receive her pay which is a rolled up towel that they play together with for a few moments. Then off to the next one and she found each one with out any hesitation. We were shown slides of many seizures and it is absolutely amazing how many drugs are found yet we still have such a problem. The narcotics that are found eventually get incinerated and the other possessions like cars, campers, trucks anything that is being used to transport or store the drugs in become government property which then goes to public auction where anyone can purchase it.  on occasion Jerry had to spend time in Arizona which is very different than our borders here in Houlton, we can get frustrated at times with waiting a few minutes or on a rare occasion hours but if you are in Arizona you plan on at least a six hour wait if not overnight. The gates close at midnight so you would either leave or wait until they open the next morning. It was asked about the dangers to them when they are off duty, while in Arizona they had to stay 3 hours away from the border so if they had to be to work at 5 am, they had to leave before 2 am and then work their 8 hours and drive 3 more hours back. Jerry told a story of a fellow worker that had gone to Mexico for something and stopped into a bar and saw Jerry and Dorsta’s picture on the wall wanted dead or alive 10,000.00. It was a very interesting talk and demonstration, we wish you well Jerry and Dorsta on your retirement and that will be together as Jerry is adopting Dorsta. Respectfully submitted by Tammie Mulvey