When Edmonton police Staff Sgt. Tom Bechthold tells his four-legged partner to sit, Hunter listens.
When Bechthold tells the dog to search, Hunter races away, using his nose to track down a sample of decomposing human hair.
He finds it under a white van, and when Bechthold shouts “Show me!” the police dog stands still, pointing his nose in the direction of the hair.
Hunter is the Edmonton Police Service’s first human remains detection dog. Bechthold noted the specialized sniffers aren’t new to Alberta, however.
“Calgary has had an established program for quite some time, the RCMP have as well,” he said Thursday.
“We’re actually a little bit behind the times. We’re kind of past due.”
When Hunter tracks down a target smell, he’s rewarded with a ball. (Trevor Wilson/CBC)
Hunter graduated from training on July 4 by passing a validation test. He will sniff out human tissue and bone when called to help on missing persons and homicide cases.
The two-year-old Belgian Malinois hasn’t yet been put to the test outside of training, but Bechthold said Hunter will provide an extra tool for investigators.
Staff Sgt. Tom Bechthold says Hunter eventually grew into his ears. (Edmonton Police Service)
“Any time we can help expedite any kind of investigation, whether it be a homicide, a historical homicide or a missing persons investigation, the more we can do that, the better,” Bechthold said.
“And if we can provide closure to families at the same time by locating human remains, then that’s what we’re here to do.”
EPS received several requests for a human remains detection dog, Bechthold said, prompting the service to purchase and train Hunter.
His training started with learning to search boxes and identify target smells indoors. Hunter then learned how to track down the scent of decomposition outside.
When he identifies a target smell, he’s rewarded with a ball.
“For Hunter we tried food, [but] it really wasn’t enough of a motivator for him,” Bechthold said. “But as soon as we brought the ball out, it was chaos after that because he just loves that ball.”
Bechthold said EPS hopes to add another human remains detection dog to the team in the future.
“It’s ideal to have two, to be able to run two dogs through the same environment as kind of a double confirmation,” he said. “Right now, we don’t have the staffing levels to do that.”