By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
A Mesquite Police officer received some well-deserved praise for his service last week. Mesquite K9 officer Rogue was instrumental in making three separate felony drug arrests while his handler was performing traffic patrol duty.
Rogue is a 1-2 year old Belgian Malinois. And he has an amazingly acute sense of smell, especially when it comes to detecting a drug like methamphetamine, which is exactly what he found last week.
“These dogs are trained to specialize in detecting certain substances only,” said Sergeant Wyatt Oliver of Mesquite Police Department. “Methamphetamine is one of the substances that Rogue is trained in. If it is there, he will sniff it out. ”
At a regular traffic stop, a K9 officer like Rogue can be allowed to do an open-air sniff around the vehicle, as long as it wouldn’t prolong the customary timeframe of the stop, Oliver said. If the dog detects something and gives his handler the alert sign, that can be used as probable cause to search the vehicle further, he said.
Last week, Rogue’s handler served as a backup officer on a routine equipment violation stop on Sandhill Blvd in Mesquite. While the traffic officer that stopped the vehicle was writing out a warning to the driver, Rogue’s handler led the dog around the car for an open-air sniff. Within just a few minutes, Rogue had detected the evidence of illegal substances. Further investigation revealed meth and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle.
The stop resulted in arrests for trafficking meth and possession of meth and paraphernalia.
Mesquite has a total of three K9 officers on duty. Rogue has been in service with the department for about six months. Other Mesquite K9s include Noro, another Belgian Malinois, and Marley a yellow labrador that works with the school resource officer patrolling Virgin Valley schools.
“These K9s are a great asset to our department and a huge help to us,” Oliver said. “They are kept pretty busy working both in town and out on the interstate.”
