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Tampa Police Put New Drug Dogs Through Their Paces

Tribune photo by CLIFF MCBRIDE

Bo, a Springer Spaniel, demonstrates with Tampa Police Officer Jamie Bryant how they search for drugs.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 19, 2008

TAMPA - Sitting beside a box containing marijuana to alert officers to the drugs inside, Max was every inch the professional pooch Luis Santana always hoped he would be.

Santana, 26, donated the German shepherd to the Tampa Police Department this year in memory of his late fiancée. Today he dropped by a police department hangar to watch Max demonstrate his new training in finding hidden drugs.

One whiff of his former owner, however, turned Max into a pup eager for belly rubs.

"When I'm here, he gets all crazy," Santana said, laughing.

Max, who is about 2 years old, and Bo, another donated dog, hit the streets about a month ago with street-level drug investigators. Max works with Officer Kevin Doan in East Tampa, and Bo, 10-month-old English springer spaniel, works in South Tampa with Officer Jamie Bryant.

The English Springer Rescue Association donated Bo to police after acquiring him from a family that found his high energy too much to handle. His strong hunting drive makes him a perfect fit to track drugs, Bryant said. In fact, two of Bo's brothers are police dogs in Canada, Bryant said.

Within his first weeks, Bo found an ounce of marijuana during a traffic stop and 21 grams of crack cocaine during the execution of a search warrant, Bryant said. For every find, the dog is rewarded with his favorite toy, a small white towel.

"He gets a badge, but he doesn't wear it," Bryant said. "He bites at it."

Max, too, has yet to wear a badge, but he already has proved himself to be valuable. Within his first week, he found almost 100 grams of marijuana, Doan said.

Santana, a photographer for the St. Petersburg Times, said his fiancée, Alyson Degnan, gave him Max shortly before she died of bone cancer in 2004. She was 21.

Santana said he often told Degnan about his admiration of police dogs and his desire to work with a search-and-rescue dog. He was unable to train Max, so he donated the dog when he heard the police department needed one.

Doan called the gift a great opportunity "to see the dream still live."

"Luis, did he make you proud?" he asked Santana.

"He always makes me proud," Santana said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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