Ensuring safety in new York is extremely challenging, given the number of people who every day descend into the subway, walk in the parks or attending the festivals and special events. Today, on thanksgiving Day, the traditional parade from Macy’s visited a million spectators, 200,000 people gathered the evening before to look like huge inflated balloons.
In other words, the police Department every day doing a tremendous job. And now the guards got a new secret weapon – specially trained dogswho can detect explosives hidden under clothing.
A detachment of Labrador Retriever passed training under the program «Vapor Wake«developed in the College of veterinary medicine Auburn University, after attempts by Briton Richard Reid to arrange a terrorist attack on Board American Airlines flight, including the detonation of explosives hidden in his shoes.
In the past decade, Auburn University perfected the process of breeding and training Labradors, able to feel even the faintest smell of explosives, which manifests itself in the thermal plume of the people. Specially selected dogs with natural instinct , learn to identify the various shades of smell, and in the end of the course they are able to distinguish a person with a concealed firearm from someone who hides on a few pounds of explosives. This allows them to ignore the armed police and focus on tracking potential terrorists.
All «graduates» of the program Vapor Wake appear in the training center in Auburn, where in the first year, they undergo basic training socializers and gain strength. Then they are included in specialized training, which continues until the moment when the dog turns 18 months. After that they have a partner for the 7-week course in obedience, after which they are ready to begin service.
Labradors are working quietly and effectively in the crowds, checking dozens of people at a time. If they feel something suspicious, they can smell, leading police to the person who can be dangerous. Last year the NYPD used in the parade, eight dogs, passed from the Vapor Wake; this year their number increased to 14. Instead of focusing on specific objects, they constantly sniff the air to catch a scent of explosives in this ocean of other fragrances.
