ROOKIE K9 COP PRODUCING 'PAWS'-ITIVE RESULTS AS SUPER SNIFFER

By Vivian LaMoore, Inaajimowin Editor

K9 Officer Layka is just shy of 2 years old but she is creating quite a buzz as she continues to sniff out illicit drugs, resulting in substantial drug busts throughout the Reservation and local communities. Layka is partnered with Tribal Police Officer Brody Hicks, assigned to District III of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. In recent months, this K9 team has been credited with several substantial drug seizures, resulting in several arrests. Drug seizures included methamphetamines, ecstacy, and fentanyl, including one bust that brought in nearly a half-pound of meth — yes, that’s a lot of meth.

Hicks has been with Tribal PD roughly five years, but as far back as he can remember, all he ever wanted was to be a cop when he grew up. He has a strong fondness and connection to canines, as his family always had dogs throughout his childhood. “I love working with dogs and being around them,” Hicks said. “I always wanted to be a cop, so I thought it would be cool to incorporate two different things that I really like into one.”

Layka and Hicks started their career together in July 2023. Layka was completely untrained at the time, which meant Hicks was tasked with teaching her the basics of sit, stay, down, come, etc. “She had to learn those before she could go to K9 training,” Hicks said.

After that, both Layka and Hicks attended an intense K9 cop training in Minneapolis from August to November, which required attendance Monday through Friday all day, every day.

Through her training, they learned evidence detection, narcotics detection, tracking, and searching for people. Each specific area has a specific command, such as “seek dope” or “find ‘em.”

Layka is a German shepherd and Belgian Malinois cross. That cross-breeding is becoming the new norm for K9 cops. German shepherds are very methodical and think about things, whereas Belgian Malinois can be high-energy, Hicks said. Malinois are incredibly focused and do well in tasks requiring agility and speed. German shepherds are calmer and more protective. This breeding combines the drive of the Malinois with the stability of the German shepherd.

This is not his first K9 partner, however. K9 Sparta previously partnered with Officer Cook, who was promoted to Investigator in 2021. Sparta was not old enough to retire, so she was assigned to partner with Hicks. He went to K9 cop school with Sparta. Since Sparta was already a seasoned professional K9 cop, it was Hicks who needed to learn how to partner with a K9. They had been partners from 2021 to last July. She finally retired in August 2023, and was given back to Officer Cook to live with him and rest in her retirement. Sadly, she passed away in November 2023. Sparta was 9 years old at the time of her passing.

Watching Layka work, one would not ever suspect she was a rookie. Her eyes are always on her partner, and his every move is tracked. She is quiet, especially for a 2-year-old pup, and she minds her manners, loves to play, and loves to work — everything a dog owner could dream of.

Hicks named her Layka after a U.S. military female war dog who was wounded in Afghanistan protecting her handler and special forces team.

SUPER SNIFFERS

Dogs can move their nostrils independently, which helps them determine the direction of an odor, much like using their nose for a compass, according to the Humane Society. Just how far a dog smells depends on conditions such as wind and type of scent, but they have been reported to smell objects and people over 12 miles away.

Dogs can smell 100,000 times better than humans. Their olfactory systems work so well that they can be trained to pick up odors as little as a pictogram which is a trillionth of a gram. This sensational sense has allowed them to locate items buried as far as 40 feet underground, and can smell human fingerprints over a week old.

Each person has their own unique scent which comes from the oils, sweat, and breath the body produces. It doesn’t matter whether a person uses scented lotion or perfume, that individual’s scent still comes through for the canine.

Dogs also sense fear and anxiety in humans because they smell adrenaline, which is produced as a result of the “fight-or-flight” response. This becomes extremely handy for the K9 officers because even if a suspect is hiding and truly believes they are being calm and cool in the face of apprehension, the K9 officer will pick that scent out and be able to locate the suspect. Adrenaline is also produced by humans if they are lost or confused, which can aide a K9 officer in locating lost people.

Hicks uses every chance he can get to work on training Layka. “The more she trains, the better she gets,” he said. He will turn every opportunity into a training session, even if he just lost his own keys. “Yeah, my keys fell off my belt and I couldn’t find them. So I had Layka search for them,” Hicks said with a chuckle.

Hicks and Layka demonstrated her ability to find people. Band member Monica Benjamin volunteered to be a person lost in the Meshakwad Community Center. Hicks took Layka down the hall and then commanded her to find Benjamin.

Layka is trained to lay down when she alerts to whatever it is she is looking for. She doesn’t bark, she just lays down and looks at Hicks. Benjamin was hiding behind a closed door in the community center.

Later, Hicks demonstrated Layka’s ability to find items. That could be such things as evidence for a case, or just missing keys. Hicks threw several items into the snow-covered grass and within moments, Layka alerted to each item.

Layka is the seventh K9 officer on the tribal PD. Karma, who is currently partnered with Officer Kintop will be retiring in the coming months. Tribal PD is currently in training with K9 Falko to take over for Karma after her retirement. Falko has been assigned to Officer Brandon DeCent. Falko will be the eighth K9 for Mille Lacs TPD and is anticipated to be able to hit the road running/sniffing in June.

On April 22, Layka will be two years old. In dog years, she is a teenager. She has a life expectancy of 8–9 years. She has kickstarted her professional career in a big way, and with continuous training, she will continue sniffing out narcotics and taking down the bad guys.

You can follow all of the news about the K9s and other valuable information on Facebook at Mille Lacs Tribal PD.