EAST HARTFORD -- Canines can be crucial resources for the Department of Homeland Security when it comes to detecting explosives.
On Thursday The Connecticut State Police hosted 25 K9 teams in the Regional Explosives Detection Dog Initiative also known as REDDI.
The teams are from eight state and local agencies currently trained and certified by the Connecticut State Police K9 training unit. During the two day training the dogs are given real world scenarios in order to evaluate their skills while also going through effective training.
“These explosion detection dogs have to be right all the time because you know if we miss something it could be detrimental, it could be fatal so we like to have these dogs working very well and today is just another evaluation process for them,” Trooper First Class P.J. Conway said.
The initiative also allows for researchers to understand what new tools and resources are needed to better understand and train the k9s.