St. Cloud Prison K-9 Officer Wins National Competition

(KNSI) – St. Cloud Prison’s K9 officer was the top dog at a national competition.

K9 Corrections Officer Cha Vang and his Labrador retriever partner Sammi took part in a narcotics detection event hosted by the U.S. Police K9 Association earlier this year. The pair got a perfect score in two aspects of the competition, the room search and the vehicle search.

Dogs are scored on how they respond to detecting the presence of drugs, being able to locate the strategically placed bundles, and their ability to alert their partner to their find.

Sammi is the first K9 with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, which was trained specifically for narcotics detection. Vang and Sammi have been teamed together since 2019. Vang says he felt the pressure of performing on behalf of himself and the DOC at the event, but the win was humbling. “I’m grateful to represent the Minnesota Department of Corrections. Taking top honors in a national competition is something I’ll forever be proud of and means so much to our department.”

The two patrol St. Cloud Prison and the facility in Lino Lakes. They search all areas of the buildings, including cells, visiting rooms, and mailrooms.

The competition occurred May 7-10 in Evansville, Indiana.

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