JSU's K-9 Officer Daphne Enhances Campus Security

0:00Jacksonville State University just boosted campus security with their first in-house K-9 officer, a two-year-old Labrador retriever named Daphne. She specially trained to sniff out firearms and explosives in big crowds, making events safer for everyone on the 9000 student campus. For years, the JSU police leaned on help from local departments and state agencies for K-9 work, but now they've got their own thanks to partnerships. With the Alabama Law Enforcement Appreciation Foundation and Global K-9, Chief Michael Barton calls it a pricey but crucial move, especially with over 300,000 visitors hitting special events yearly. Students, faculty, and staff are loving the extra protection, and Daphne is a hit off duty too. She lives with handler officer Cody Quinn and his, family who treat her like one of their own. Quinn trained six weeks in Opeleca and now patrols evenings from 2 to 10 pm, letting folks pet her and snap pics during rounds. Daphne

1:00uses a cutting-edge vapor wake method from Auburn University, tracking scent trails from people in real-time, perfect for busy spots. She proved her skills during football season by alerting to explosive traces on a bus from prior training, and she's geared up with a bullet and knife-proof vest worth $1,800. This setup means quicker sweeps, better investigations, and peace of mind for the whole JSU crew, blending top-tier safety with that family vibe. That's the story for today. Birmingham News Today, Driven by AI