POLICE DOG DEMONSTRATES WORK TO STUDENTS

To celebrate a schoolwide drug prevention week, Jefferson Elementary School invited police officer Dennis Horn and his furry sidekick, Greif, the police dog, to give a short speech and demonstration of the canine's abilities.

"Criminals get better and better at hiding drugs from officers all the time," said Horn, a tactical officer with the Cape Girardeau Police Department. "That's why the dogs are so necessary to police work."

Horn gave several 30-minute presentations in the school library Monday.

"Just think of all the places you could hide drugs in this room," Horn told the children. "If I was going to find some drugs one of you stashed, I'd have to open every book on the shelves, check under every table and in every corner.

"Even then, there's no guarantee that I'd find it," he said. "The dog, on the other hand, could sweep through this room in about 10-15 minutes and have a better chance of finding drugs than would three or four officers."

Horn explained to the students that a dog's sense of smell is about 1000 times keener than that of humans. In fact, dogs can pick up different scents out of each nostril.

"When you go into a McDonald's, you smell the hamburgers and fries," he said. "If a dog went into McDonald's, he'd smell the hamburgers and fries, but he'd also smell the floor cleaner, the ketchup, the salt and the individual scent of every person in the place."

The officer gave several examples of police dogs' effectiveness in the field. To show the sensitivity of the dog's nose, Horn told the children: "A few months ago we stopped a car and had the dog go through it. Greif kept hitting on the carpet; I didn't see anything there. I thought he was losing his mind. But then I got down there and looked real close. There was a single marijuana seed in the carpet that he had smelled."

Horn pulled a six-inch-long tube, capped at the ends, with holes drilled in it, out of his pocket near the end of his speech.

"Believe it or not, this is his favorite toy," Horn said. "When we teach them how to smell the drugs, we put the marijuana or cocaine in the tube and let them play with it.

"When it comes time to work, it's like a game for them the dog is looking for his toy," he said. When the dog "hits" on the drugs, the officer hands the dog his toy, rewarding him with play.

Greif, who sat quietly at Horn's side throughout the speech, gave a demonstration to the kids before they had to return to their classes. Horn had stashed a small packet of marijuana under the edge of the television stand and had the dog find it.

About 30 seconds after he started, Greif hit on the marijuana and Horn gave the dog his toy and played with him for a few minutes. The dog strutted around the front of the room, holding the toy up high for everyone to see.

"He really likes that thing," Horn said. "He's showing everyone that it's his toy."

Greif is a 7-year-old German shepherd, who has served as Horn's backup and living companion for the past three years. The dog not only sniffs out drugs, but also is an efficient tracker and is trained for protection purposes.

The dog was purchased by the Cape Girardeau Police Department as part of a school drug prevention grant. Horn goes to the schools upon request on his own time.

"I've told Greif that his first responsibility is to protect me," Horn joked. "We have an understanding about that."