K-9 team joins Metro Transit Police
Metro Transit Police recently welcomed two new members to the squad – Dep. Tim Morgan and his explosives-sniffing partner "Stevie."
Stevie is an 18-month-old Black Lab. He and Morgan graduated from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Training Center in Fort Royal, Virginia in December. They are assigned full-time to Metro Transit Police, thanks to federal grants including funding from Homeland Security. Their duties include bomb sweeps of Metro buses and facilities, with a special emphasis on the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel when it re-opens.
"Metro is a large agency with buses and facilities spread out across a widespread area," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "This K-9 team is a great tool for us to use in protecting the public. Stevie and Deputy Morgan will be our eyes, ears, and nose – looking for suspicious packages and people."
Deputy Tim Morgan and Stevie the explosives-sniffing dog
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Morgan has been with the King County Sheriff’s Office for more than 21 years, and had previous assignments with the SWAT and bomb units before joining the transit police unit.
Stevie is the second explosives dog for the Sheriff’s Office. The other team is Jones and Dep. John Decker. Jones fills in for Stevie when he is not available for transit work. In addition to sniffing out all kinds of explosives, the animals can detect or locate firearms, ammunition, and shell casings. They can also find gunpowder and explosive residue on people.
Both dogs live with their handlers and their families. The dogs are trained on the food reward system. That means in order to eat they must train every day, searching out training materials about 30 times a day for a few bites of food each time.
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