K-9 Unit targets contraband
It’s never just another day at the office for CDCR’s K-9 Unit. Their office could be two or three prisons that the hard-working team visits and works in on any given day.
Their jobs? Sniff out cell phones, narcotics and tobacco. The sniffers on these mostly Labrador Retrievers and Belgian Malinois are pretty amazing.
A dog’s sense of smell is more than 100,000 times greater than a human, allowing them to follow a scent trail undetectable to humans.
There are currently 62 active CDCR K-9 teams, with three more handlers joining the team at the end of May.
Contraband by the numbers
One notable bust by the K-9 Unit in 2020 was in a housing unit that recovered:
- six bags of tobacco
- three coffee containers of tobacco with a total weight of 12,718.5 grams
- 28 cellular phones
- 38 cellular phone charger plugs
- 41 cellular phone charging cables.
In a separate search, the K-9 team was alerted to the mailroom where they found:
- 32 grams of THC wax
- 25.6 grams of cannabis
- 41.6 grams of tobacco.
Also in 2020, the K-9 team was alerted to a separate mailroom where what looked like packages of food, were actually cell phones, tobacco and other miscellaneous items.
In 2020, CDCR K-9 units seized:
- 48.4 grams of cocaine
- 78 grams of hash
- 16,300 grams of cannabis
- 5,049.9 grams of methamphetamine
- 59,891.8 grams of tobacco
- 244.4 grams of butane honey oil
- 692.1 grams of suboxone
- 0.7 grams of fentanyl.
Contraband found in 2020 by the K-9 team. 
Officer Y. Abrego and the four-legged partner help maintain public safety. 
Some of the contraband found by CDCR K-9s in 2020. 
CDCR K-9s can sniff out drugs and contraband, even if they are well concealed.
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