Mt. Laurel Township Police Department Cpl. Christopher O’Prandy and K-9 Gunner were honored as one of the top detector dog teams in the nation for the second consecutive year at the recent United States Police Canine Association’s detector dog national field trials.
According to Mt. Laurel Police, this year’s trials brought together 100 canine teams from throughout the nation for an event consisting of training, certification and competition.
Police say 51 drug dogs from as far away as North Dakota and Florida traveled to Albany, N.Y. from May through May 8 to participate in the United States Police Canine Association’s annual event.
Once at the event, the canine teams were tested in two phases.
The first phase consisted of searching three rooms, where two of the rooms contained hidden narcotics.
The second phase consisted of searching five vehicles, where two of the vehicles had narcotics hidden in them.
The teams were evaluated on their precision, speed and the performance of the dogs and their handlers.
OPrandy and Gunner took top honors in the room search phase with a perfect score and the fastest time.
The team also finished 14th overall, and by virtue of their score, received national certification and a medal of police excellence.
With that in mind, Chief Stephen Riedener of the Mt. Laurel Township Police Department said he and the department recognize and commend O’Prandy and Gunner for their success and all the hard work and training in preparation for the event.
Riedener also stated that in addition to the team’s success at the national trials, O’Prandy and Gunner were top scoring team at the New Jersey competition, which consisted of 55 teams.
