Metro News Release

For immediate release: May 31, 2007

Metro Transit Police Officer and K9 partner place second in national competition

Metro Transit Police Officer Anthony Montgomery and his K9 partner, Sabre, placed second overall in a national competition for police dogs.

Sabre, trained in explosives detection, successfully found explosives hidden indoors and outdoors during the national competition. The National Detector Trials held in Minneapolis earlier this month, tests the abilities of police dogs and their handlers to detect either explosives or narcotics. The national competition included participants from more than 100 agencies across the county.

Six-year-old Sabre, a black Labrador, has been working with Officer Montgomery on Metro’s explosives ordnance detection team for four years. Montgomery has been with the Metro Transit Police Department for 12 years.

“Of course, I’m proud of Sabre,” Montgomery said. “But really, he was just doing his job.”

Police dogs provide an important element in Metro’s multi-layered security efforts. Dogs have an exceptional sense of smell and can be trained to sniff for a variety of substances, including explosives and narcotics. Along with their handlers, MTPD bomb dogs conduct routine security sweeps of Metro property and respond to specific incidents where suspicious items are reported.

News release issued at 12:00 am, May 31, 2007.