One of the best...

Happy Monday!

Two of Miami University’s finest, Officer Keith Hibbard and Ero, who is a 7 Year old German Shepherd, recently received the USPCA’s Explosive Detector Dog Certification and placed second in the United States Police Canine Association competition. This makes Ero one of the best bomb dogs in the state!

The competition was held in Marion early June where all canines had to go through an intensive odor recognition test, which must properly identify 31 possible explosives that are in four separate classes. Ero is able to identify these explosives by sitting and pointing with his nose.

Ero, who came to the university from Germany and was teamed up with Officer Hibbard in 2007 after doing explosive training for 10 weeks. Even though Ero works directly with the Miami University Police Department, he has worked at the recent NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) convention in Cincinnati and at the Great American Ballpark a couple of years back when President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch. “We feel very proud and fortunate to have one of the best explosive detection dogs in the tri-state and a handler like Officer Hibbard who is so dedicated to his community and out K-9 program,” said Captain Jason Willis who oversees Miami’s K-9 program during an interview. Officer Hibbard adds, “Whenever we’re not working, he’s a family dog, but when I put his collar on him, he knows it’s time to go to work.”

The Miami University police department is composed of 29 sworn police officers commissioned by the State of Ohio, 6 communication specialists and 5 civilian support staff. The police headquarters is located in the Police Services Center on campus and they maintain two substations inside of the King Library and Yager Stadium.

The quotes and part of this article was provided by the News and Public Information Office at Miami University. For the complete story please visit http://www.miami.muohio.edu/news/article/view/11987.