The Baltimore public transportation system is among 11 nationwide that will be getting new bomb-sniffing dogs.
An outgrowth of a federal program that has 400 dogs at 77 airports, each city is getting three canine teams, said Darrin Kayser, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration.
Baltimore?s three ? German shepherds named Brix, Rolf and Balu, and their handlers, Sgt. Louis Jones and Officers Donald Page and Nicolas Frazier ? work for the Maryland Transit Administration and Maryland Transportation Authority.
They could be involved in security in any capacity on routes covered by Light Rail, the MARC train and the MTA bus system, Kayser said ? meaning their reach could stretch almost throughout Maryland.
But commuters probably won?t see them much. Most of the time, they?ll be working behind the scenes, Kayser said.
He said there is a huge range of activities they could be involved in, from responding to a bomb threat to checking out a bag left unattended or searching a parking lot.
The dogs demonstrated their prowess Wednesday, searching buses at the MTA station at Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport. When they detected something suspicious, they gave a “passive alert,” sitting down next to the object.
Their accuracy is unrivaled, Kayser said.
“They are the most technically apt bomb detector capacity we have. Better than any machinery we have.”
TSA is contributing $40,000 for each canine team, which goes toward costs associated with training, veterinary care, dog food and even a portion of the officer?s salary, Kayser said.
Atlanta, Philadelphia and D.C. are among the other cities getting canine teams, Kayser said.
He said the cities were selected because they have busy mass transit systems, not because of any particular terrorism threat or perceived vulnerability.
