Anne Arundel County K-9 Unit Uses Scentlogix To Fight Opioid Crisis

ANNE ARUNDEL Co., Md. (WJZ) — The opioid epidemic is crippling Anne Arundel County, with overdose deaths spiking 30 percent in the last year.

"It's breaking down families, it's hurting the community as a whole, it doesn't matter what economic level they're at it's affecting everyone." Brian Fleig, AACO K-9 handler said.

The K-9 unit is a crucial component in the fight against drugs. In 2015, Anne Arundel County started using Scentlogix to train their dogs, a change that made them more successful on the street.

"We've isolated the main component of opium, so in that case, no matter where it is, if it's in material A, in material B, or in material C, no matter how much is present in that material, the dog will find it." David Adebimpe, Scentlogix scientist, said.

Invented in Anne Arundel County, Dr. David's Scentlogix are used worldwide by law enforcement, a technique that makes K-9s more efficient.

"Finding a lot more stuff on the streets and they've been finding high volumes and high weights of it." Adebimpe said.

Since introducing this training tool, Anne Arundel County has seen their drug seizures increase exponentially.

"Our seizures overall have gone up 10 times, our heroin seizures have gone up five times." Fleig said.

They are sharpening their K-9's skills to accelerate their effort in combating the drug crisis.

"Super sensitive instrument that with good training aid, they're a highly effective tool to locate and interdict drugs." Fleig said.

The battle against opioids shows no signs of slowing down, reinforcing the demand for this critical tool.

Since 2015, the Anne Arundel County K-9 unit has doubled their drug dogs.

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