NCJ Number
226305
Journal
Corrections Today Magazine Volume: 70 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2008 Pages: 58-61
Date Published
October 2008
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services’ use of cell-phone-sniffing dogs to crack down on cell phones being smuggled into the State’s prisons.
Abstract
Cellular technology has enabled inmates to guide the daily operations of a criminal enterprise outside the prison or intimidate witnesses from behind bars. This relatively new threat to institutional security has become popular contraband among Maryland inmates. Prison staff continues to find evidence that cell phones have been used by inmates in an attempt to circumvent intelligence efforts. After conducting research on the use of cell-phone-sniffing dogs in the prisons of Virginia and England, Maryland’s K-9 unit commander began a regional search for appropriate canine candidates. Three dogs were identified, two donated by the U.S. Customs Department and a third from the division’s existing K-9 program. Developing each dog’s ability to detect the cell phone smell took approximately 5 weeks. The training for detecting cell phones is similar to that for drug detection. After 3 months of deployment in the State’s prisons, the dogs had made 17 finds. In addition to random searches of prison cells, facility deliveries, and common areas, searches are also based on intelligence obtained by the security staff. In addition to the dogs, a departmentwide security and contraband initiative was implemented in the fall of 2007. Increased cell-phone interdiction efforts across the system include new staff, new technology, and new security strategies. Intelligence staff has been doubled in problematic regions, and all members of the Intelligence Coordinating Unit were equipped with BlackBerries and other tools critical in information collection. In the first 6 months of 2008, departmentwide cell phone finds were up 15 percent compared with recoveries in the first half of 2007, 456 compared with 396. 1 figure