SHENANDOAH COUNTY, VA (Rocktown Now) – Shenandoah County Sheriff Timothy Carter is highlighting the need for Explosives and Firearms Detection K-9 Units in area schools.

In a video discussion posted online, Captain Whitney Mauk agrees, indicating incidents requiring such units are far more frequent than most people realize.

“Just this year from the beginning of school until the current date,” said Captain Mauk. “We’ve had 43 incidents where if we would’ve had an Explosives K-9 that we could’ve put that into play at that point.”

Carter added that detection K-9 are not only trained to sniff out explosives, but also firearms.

Master Deputy Colton Manich, a school resource officer at Strasburg High School, says having Detection K-9 Units in schools would speed up investigation response times by 45 minutes to an hour.