Putting a bite on crime

PERU — She is just the prettiest dog.

Big dark eyes, flowing reddish-brown hair, and a smiling mouth.

Yes, she’s a pretty dog, and area drug dealers are just going to hate her.

Officials with the Tri-County Drug Enforcement Narcotics Team (Tri-DENT) introduced Bailey to her financial sponsors and the press Wednesday at the Illinois Valley Regional Airport in Peru.

Bailey, age 2, is a field cocker spaniel, and trained as a passive alert narcotics detector dog. Bailey is trained only in narcotics detection and can detect small amounts of marijuana, Ecstasy, hashish, cocaine, crack cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin.

Earlier this year, Tri-DENT sought donations to purchase its own drug dog instead of relying on a dog from one of the police departments that are part of Tri-DENT. Bailey’s been working for Tri-DENT since May 24 and already has 19 arrests under her collar.

Tri-DENT is not releasing the identity of Bailey’s handler for security reasons, but Brian Zebron, K-9 officer with the LaSalle Police Department, was happy to put Bailey through her paces Wednesday.

Zebron has seen Bailey in action, and is impressed.

“It’s just incredible to see her go that quick and, boom, here it is,” Zebron said.

Zebron said drugs can be hidden almost anywhere, and it’s difficult for officers to know if they’ve missed a hiding spot.

“Before we would go in and look, and you’re not sure when you leave that place if you missed something,” he said.

Now, Bailey can search an area in five minutes that would take officers two hours.

“It really speeds up the process for everybody,” Zebron said. “The bad guys go to jail quicker, and we get our paperwork done quicker.”

According to a release issued by Tri-DENT, field cocker spaniels have a superior hunt drive and will search for longer periods than most breeds.

But Bailey’s real appeal was her size, which is about 35 pounds.

“We recently got a grant where we started an interdiction program on the highway,” said Zach Milus, Tri-DENT administrative assistant. “With her size, you can throw her up on the semi, and she can get all the way to the back, whereas a bigger dog might be a little harder to lift.”