LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – The Lake County School Board will vote on funding for a K9 handler particularly for vape detection at its assembly Monday evening.
Samba, a 1 1/2-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever, can be devoted to sniffing out vapes and THC on faculty campuses throughout Lake County.
“This is huge for the schools, really,” mentioned Lake County Sheriff’s Office School Resource K9 Handler Erica Stamborski. “The school board and law enforcement saw the need for this with the rise of vape usage with students.”
According to the LCSO, throughout the 23 colleges they cowl within the county, faculty useful resource deputies wrote 323 citations for vapes within the 2022-2023 faculty yr.
As for the 2023-2024 faculty yr, as of Oct. 31, there had been 84 vape-related citations.
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“The usage of vapes, it’s not as easy to detect,” Stamborski mentioned. “The kids can conceal it. They’re coming in different flavors and scents.”
Not solely will Samba be capable of detect liquid nicotine and THC, however she’ll additionally be capable of detect the vape itself.
“When (the dogs are) smelling something, they’re getting every element of that item,” Stamborski mentioned. “So just her training with, say, one type of vape, she’ll start to pick up that and learn to alert to the cartridge itself, the liquid inside, because sometimes we’ll be finding some that are almost empty. All those odors together will tell her that this is the item we’re looking for.”
The Lake County School Board is about to satisfy Monday evening to vote on the $63,000 wanted for Samba’s handler. Thanks to a charitable donation, Lake County Schools Superintendent Diane Kornegay mentioned the college board was in a position to safe that funding.
“Teachers, administrators, parents and students are all concerned about the increased use of vape pens in schools,” Kornegay mentioned. “We all want to make sure that our kids are safe and that this novelty that these vape pens of this become, that they’re very much aware of the dangers that exist within those pens.”
Samba’s coaching is about to begin on Nov. 27. District officers mentioned Samba may very well be educated by early 2024.
Monday’s faculty board assembly begins at 6 p.m.
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