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THE NOSE KNOWS: MALE'S BEST FRIEND IS A CRIME FIGHTER

There's a new lawman prowling Cameron streets and if you're dealing drugs, Mick is going to sniff you out.

Mick - the newest member of the Cameron Police Department - is a three-year-old, red and white short-haired Border Collie and under the direction of handler and Cameron police officer Wes Male, the highly trained canine can find narcotics, even if he or the officer can't see them.

"It's a lot of work, but it's worth it," Male said of the daily routine of training with Mick.  "It's allowing us to find some of these narcotics that we might not otherwise find and then get it and the people who have it off the street.

Male and Mick have been officially on duty since Jan.  26 - the day after they completed certification - and in just 46 days, the two are responsible for 19 cases - some involving narcotics - and others where illegal weapons were discovered when the dog hit on odors where narcotics had once been stashed.

Cameron's city council got a first hand look at Male and Mick in action Monday evening on the downtown parking mall in Cameron.  After talking with the council, Male retrieved Mick from his squad car and led him to four or five items laid out on the mall.

One-by-one Mick made a sniff of the items, then hit on one large plastic box.  He began scratching and barking at the box - which Male later revealed - contained a small quantity of marijuana.

Mick and the training necessary for the canine and his handler, was a gift from the Cameron Housing Authority which oversees government housing in Cameron.

Housing Authority officials approached the city in early January with an offer to provide the $3,000-plus necessary to purchase the dog and train it and a handler for use by law enforcement in Milam County and beyond.  The single stipulation was that Male and Mick make routine and unannounced walk-throughs of government housing projects in the city in an effort to deter people from bringing narcotics onto those premises.

"Housing and Urban Development ( HUD ) is trying to get all housing authorities to be more pro-active in their communities," said James Thompson, director of the Cameron Housing Authority.  "I can't see that we've see a tremendous problem in our complexes with drugs but in visiting with police and local troopers it became obvious to us that having a drug dog here would be a benefit.  It's just another tool in helping to keep narcotics out of our community."

Thompson said that while he isn't surprised that Mick is already making an impact, he is "very pleased" to see that the animal is performing the way the kennel operator said he would.

"We have gotten some very positive feedback from our residents," Thompson said.  "They like the idea and maybe even feel safer knowing that he's visiting from time to time.  We've even had calls from some residents who asked if they could call for him if they see something suspicious going on."

"Our hope is that Wes and Mick will not only be able to catch some of the people who bring drugs through or into our community, but that they will also act as a deterrent to keep those kind of people out of our community."

Before hitting the streets, Male and Mick had to undergo two weeks of training at the Sunset Canine Training Academy near Lago Vista.

"I arrived there for orientation and training and worked with a couple of different dogs to get a feel for them and to let them get accustomed to me," Male said.  "Three days into training, I settled on Mick because I liked the way he worked."

Male said training involved officer classroom time and loads of hands-on time working with Mick.

"During the whole process, the trainer slowly pushed Mick away from himself and to me," Male said.  "Along with training, I was responsible for feeding him, grooming him and bonding with him."

"Training was from 8 a.m.  to 5 p.m.  daily and after that we returned to our quarters," Male said.  "During the two-week session, it was rare to be away from Mick for very long," Male said.

Originally scheduled to undergo training with as many as three other officers from other departments around the state, Male said the other officers had to postpone their training cycles - leaving Male and Mick with a one-on-one trainer.

"I think it really helped to be the only one there going through training," Male said.  "I think we got more one-on-one training time and that was beneficial."

What was a two-week training session for Male was the end of a 15-week training session for Mick.  After 13-weeks under the guidance of a professional trainer, Mick spent the last two weeks with Male to make the final move toward certification.

The certification course, which is required once per year to maintain certification, involved a 43-question classroom test for Male and a narcotics obstacle course that had to be completed by Male and Mick and involved finding narcotics in a variety of areas, including two vehicle searches, the search of a building and an open-air sniff in which the canine leads the officer to narcotics in a wide open area.

Male missed only one of the 43 questions and Male and Mick completed the certification course on their first try.

"Basically, we had one opportunity to complete the obstacle course or we couldn't be certified," Male said.  "We made it on the first run through."

Wes said that while the training center trains canines for a variety of purposes, including cadaver searches and patrols, Mick is trained specifically for narcotics searches.

Mick is certified to alert to marijuana, heroine and cocaine along with methamphetamine.

"There are other narcotics that can be added to those that Mick can already alert to," Male said.  "Among other things, I was provided direction on how to get him to pick up the odor of other narcotics."

"A part of the handlers responsibility is to know which drug Mick is alerting to when he alerts," Male said.  "He really has a different alert depending on what he's found and it's part of my responsibility to know what he is alerting to."

Male said Mick has what is known as an "aggressive alert," pawing, barking and biting areas where narcotics are located or have been located.  "When he hits, there is just a very noticeable difference in his behaviour," Male said.

During his first 46 days of work, Mick has located marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine - though Male said he has yet to turnup heroine in any of the 19 cases which have been made."

His first day on duty, Mick nabbed his first suspects.

"There was a traffic stop made due to a license plate violation and during the course of the stop, we were called," Male said.  "The end result of the stop was a possession of marijuana charge, a charge of minor in possession of alcoholic beverages and a charge of furnishing alcohol to a minor."

"We've also made a case concerning a prohibited weapon, because Mick alerted on the passenger door of a vehicle and we later found marijuana residue, seeds and stems, in the door panel of the auto.  It wasn't a narcotics case, but during the course of the investigation, officers located an illegal butterfly knife in the vehicle," Male said.

In another instance, Male and Mick were making a walkthrough at one of the government housing projects when Mick alerted to a van that was parked near the curb.

"I didn't know what he was barking at until I walked up alongside the van and began to smell marijuana," Male said.  "Two guys had been smoking marijuana just a little while before we got there - and while we didn't make a narcotics arrest - we did find out that the driver was wanted on a San Saba County warrant for possession of certain chemicals with the intent to manufacture a controlled substance, and made an arrest on that warrant."

Male and Mick have already been utilized by the police department, the Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and, in one instance, by the Bryan DPS in a case in Robertson County.

"I work the same shift with the Cameron Police Department that I always have," Male said.  "But I'm on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help out officers on other shifts."

"The duty and daily training keeps us busy, but it's great to know that we're making an impact," Male said.  "I've always been a dog lover and I love working in the area of narcotics, so this is just a perfect fit."

Based on his track record so far, Mick is equally dedicated to his tasks.  When this four-legged, cold nosed officer shows up on the scene, chances are, folks haven't hidden their narcotics well enough and their next stop will likely be jail.