Trainer demonstrates a weapon-detecting dog at the Cobb County school board meeting: screenshot from video of meeting

By Rebecca Gaunt

New furry faces framed by floppy ears are coming to the Cobb County School District and bringing with them a system for detecting concealed-carried explosives and firearms called Vapor Wake.

Keith Turner, a representative for the Global K9 Protection Group, a company formed in 2018 and based in Opelika, Alabama, gave a presentation to the school board at Thursday’s work session.

Dakota, one of the company’s trained dogs, came along to give a presentation for board members.

“What Dakota is trained to do is source particles in the air…could be smokeless powder, could be potassium nitrate, could be gun oil,” Turner said.

Basically, the dogs can detect the scent of ammunition and dangerous materials as people walk by, the way humans might detect perfume.

The operation currently has about 147 dogs in its kennel, and they procure 40 dogs every three weeks, putting out about 220 certified teams across the United States every year. The dogs are bred at Auburn University.

Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the district has already purchased two dogs named for their Auburn roots: a yellow lab named Major and a black lab named Aubie. He is also looking at buying more in the future. 

Though a specific cost for the dogs was not shared in the presentation, Ragsdale said, “Obviously, these K-9s are not cheap, but you get what you pay for.”

He indicated that the additional funds for safety and security for schools approved by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp would likely be tapped.

The district already has three police dogs that are not trained in Vapor Wake.

The handlers are employed by the school district and Ragsdale will be working with the Cobb County School District Police Department to identify any additional officers who are interested in being K-9 handlers.

The two dogs already purchased and their assigned handlers started training Feb. 3 to be certified as a team.

Turner shared a lengthy list of clients that included the Atlanta Braves, the University of South Carolina, the San Francisco 49ers, Six Flags Theme Parks, and the Chicago and New York Police Departments.

He also provided an anecdote about one of the company’s dogs, Amos, who worked at Auburn High School. Students created social media accounts for him and introduced him on the field at football games.

“That is important because now you’ve drawn in the parents and made them feel good about what’s going on and became just a big happy family,” he said.

Ragsdale said that while many of the district’s safety measures are confidential, “This is a different situation in that we want to scream from the mountaintops that we have these K-9 officers in use and they are able to detect weapons with 100% efficiency.”

In other security news, for the first time Thursday, those attending the school board meetings had to pass through Evolv security screeners, which use AI technology to detect weapons. While the district already uses them for large events such as football games, Ragsdale said they are not practical for the high volume of traffic going into schools every day. He lauded the use of the K-9s as a method that won’t slow crowds entering a building.

The presentation can be viewed in full on the district website Watch Meetings Online.