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February 03, 2002

Gone to the dogs



The Transportation Security Administration is also taking over other jobs formerly handled by local police departments, like using dogs to search for explosives. There are now 175 dogs at 39 airports, but by next year the government wants 300 dogs at 80 airports.

The agency needs so many dogs because they can only work
for about an hour at a time before becoming ineffective.
Secretary Mineta said at a recent conference on aviation
security in Washington that the dogs had established a
comfortable work schedule for themselves even without
unionizing.

The dogs begin with a 14-week training course and, like
human security agents, are frequently retrained. Like people,
dogs lose focus if they are faced with repetitive tasks,
experts say. It costs about $40,000 a year per dog,
including training.

Source NYT.

Posted by dc at February 3, 2002 11:46 AM

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