GILLETTE, Wyo. — Nine additional Wyoming Highway Patrol canine teams across Wyoming were trained and certified in late February to detect fentanyl, the agency announced today.
The agency now has 10 canines that will assist Wyoming’s effort to remove fentanyl from the state’s communities. The first fentanyl-detection canine was trained and certified in July 2022.
“The safety and success of this pioneering effort have led the Wyoming Highway Patrol to expand this program to the rest of our narcotic detection canine handler teams,” the agency said in a news release. “We began this training with the safety of our canine officers and their handlers first and foremost. This has been an extensive process, requiring time and resources from many companies to ensure the process is safe. The results have been overwhelmingly positive, with no incidents occurring that have endangered our canine partners or handlers throughout this training process.”
Five of the canines were purchased with federal grant funds through the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program.
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy established the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program in 1996. As of 2020, the program has 30 high-intensity drug trafficking area–designated counties in four states: Wyoming, Colorado, Montana and Utah, the program’s website said. Campbell County is among Wyoming’s designated counties. The other designated Wyoming counties are Albany, Laramie, Natrona, Sweetwater and Uinta.
