SPD discontinues training of marijuana detection for its service dogs

Now that recreational marijuana is legal in Missouri, the Springfield Police Department is no longer training its police service dogs to detect marijuana. Additionally, one dog trained to detect the drug will be retired from the department soon.

The Springfield Police Department operates a Police Service Dog program, which trains both single-purpose and dual-purpose dogs. Single-purpose service dogs are only used for drug detection and dual-purpose dogs are used for drug detection, searching and tracking.

The department’s service dogs, as of Friday, included Hank, Ivan, Dutch, Pako, Ronin and Fox. Soon, Hank will retire and be replaced by one newly acquired dog, Max, according to Police Chief Paul Williams. The department is currently looking for one more new dog to acquire, who would eventually replace Pako.

Once both Hank and Pako are retired, Ivan will be the only service dog with the department trained in detecting marijuana.

Following the addition of Amendment 3 to the Missouri Constitution in December 2022, the department will no longer train service dogs to detect marijuana, although they still can be used to detect other drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.