Cobb County school board doubles number of security K-9s in schools

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — At a recent meeting, the Cobb County Board of Education approved adding more Vapor Wake Canines.

The board gave the K-9 OK to bring on eight more dogs, doubling the number of teams to 16.

School district officials said this means there will be one Vapor Wake Canine team per high school in the district.

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According to the district, the Vapor Wake Canine teams are trained to detect concealed explosives and firearms.

Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell reported on the introduction of the K-9s in February, when Superintendent Chris Ragsdale highlighted the program’s safety efforts.

The district works with Global K9 to procure the dogs and certify handlers for each campus, according to officials.

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Part of what makes the Vapor Wake Canines special is that unlike other detection dogs, these K-9s are able to track threats on the move.

At the board meeting, Ragsdale said the program had performed well at the schools it was active in for the district.

He gave the example of Cobb Schools Police assisting a local police department during a suspect chase using one of the dogs to find a discarded weapon on the roadside, the district said.

“According to the Cobb Schools Police, over the last 90 days, the department’s K-9 team has conducted about 180 operational deployments within the district during school hours and at large-scale events,” the district said in a statement. “The Cobb Schools Police has also been requested to assist other agencies, including six searches for firearms on behalf of agencies such as Paulding County, Cobb County Police, Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, Smyrna Police, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.”

Now that school board members have approved the purchase of eight more Vapor Wake Canines, they’ll also be hiring corresponding handlers and related equipment.

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