Missouri’s pot sniffing police dogs are shifting to new roles

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Legalizing marijuana in Missouri has some Kansas City-area police departments moving K9 officers into different roles, or retirement, because their specialized skills are no longer necessary.

The Kansas City, Missouri Police Department says it has planned ahead and anticipated the change in Missouri’s marijuana laws, according to a presentation to Kansas City’s Board of Police Commissioners last week.

“Recently with the law we made the decision for the narcotics aspect of the K9 we are not going to use that dog for that reason because they are imprinted with marijuana, but they are still a functioning patrol dog. They still will be able to go out, do the patrol function, as in article searches, search for individuals, things like that,” Capt. Greg Williams, Kansas City Police Dept., said.

Of the 12 K9s owned by the department, just three fall into that category, according to Williams. The police department is currently working to get funding in place to eventually replace those three K9s.

“We are looking for different options for replacing those dogs because now we go from having a dual purpose dog to a single purpose dog and it would be much more effective if we had dual purpose,” Williams said. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office has funding to cover the purchase of two new K9s, after losing two from its force.

The department celebrated the retirement of K9 Sammy in October. Sammy served the department for years and at 9 years old, the department said she was scheduled to retire.

K9 Csibi spent the first part of his career working with a federal task force. He is trained to sniff out marijuana and marijuana-scented money at transportation centers across the Kansas City area.

Now, at the age of 5, Csibi is enjoying a much more relaxed atmosphere. He is working as a School Resource Canine. Csibi and his partner are working in the North Kansas City School District, where marijuana is still prohibited.

Funding for the new K9s comes from donations from Rogers Sporting Goods and the annual K9 Unit Golf Tournament, according to the sheriff’s office.

The Independence Police Department says it doesn’t actively train its K9s to sniff out marijuana anymore, but two of its dogs that were formerly certified remember what it smells like.

One of those K9s will retire in July and live with his handler. The other dog will be with the force longer.

The department says the only time either K9 is used for drug searches is if the vehicle or area to be searched involves people who are under the age of 21 because possession is still illegal at that age. The two dogs also continue to track people, search buildings and protect their handlers for the department. When the two dogs retire the department says it will no longer have any dogs that exposed to marijuana.

The department says it will address Missouri’s marijuana legalization with future K9s as the department’s current dogs reach retirement.