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Officers and union propose donated-funded K9 teams to detect drugs and cellphones in NDOC facilities
Summary
FOP Nevada and correctional officers urged the Board to reassign existing funded positions to create K9 handler roles, with proposed funding from donations and free training from Arizona DOC, arguing dogs would reduce contraband, overdoses and overtime costs.
Representatives of the Fraternal Order of Police Nevada CO Lodge 21 and several Nevada Department of Corrections officers urged the Board to support a K9 program to detect narcotics and contraband cellphones.
Paul Lunkwitz, president of FOP Nevada CO Lodge 21, called K9 teams an "equalizer" for prisons and said they are effective at minimizing drug and contraband trafficking. He said the foundation FOP has solicited would accept donations from casino and business owners to fund dogs and handlers, and that Arizona DOC has offered to train teams and handlers at no cost.
Officers described operational benefits: faster searches, a deterrent effect that reduces contraband circulation, fewer mass-search overtime events, and quicker detection of substances. Waylon Brown, a correctional officer, said suspected overdoses inside prisons have more than doubled in a year and argued that K9 teams could help prevent those incidents. "Every officer deserves to go home safely at the end of their shift," he said.
Larry Nava, a correctional officer with prior K9 experience, said he had arranged for Arizona training and that local donations could cover program costs; he requested reassignment of already-funded PCN positions to create handler roles and use existing kennels at High Desert State Prison.
No formal Board vote on starting a K9 program occurred at the meeting; speakers asked the Board and the director to pursue reassignment of positions and to meet with FOP representatives to develop implementation details.
