Pike County’s Sheriff’s Office goes to the dogs

By TOM KANE

MILFORD, PA — Seamus is an essential part of the Pike County Sheriff’s Office campaign to fight drug use. He also is a key member of the county’s search and rescue team and the principal discoverer of lost or hidden cadavers.

In short, he is an essential part of the Sheriff’s staff even though he’s just a dog.

To be exact, he’s a four-and-a-half-year-old yellow Labrador retriever.

“Seamus is just like a big kid who knows what he can get away with—just like my kids,” said Sheriff’s Deputy David May, a 14-year veteran of the department, who is the dog’s handler. May and Seamus are inseparable since the dog lives with May and his family.

“My kids love him,” May said.

Despite his playfulness, Seamus takes his jobs very seriously, being on emergency call 24/7, May said. His usual hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, just like his handler.

“I say ‘jobs’ because he has three of them,” May said. “His first job is detecting drugs. Second is searching and rescuing, and third is uncovering dead people who are victims of tragedies and who are often hidden or out of sight.

“Last year, an 84-year-old woman got lost in the woods, looking for ferns,” May said. “Her family called and we got Seamus on the job. He found her in no time.”

The department participates in a national drug-use prevention program called DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) in which officers go into schools to teach fifth-grade students about the dangers of drug use.

“Naturally, Seamus makes a big hit with the kids. They love him,” May said.

When invited by school authorities, May and his canine assistant go in to find drugs that might be present in students’ lockers.

“So far, we haven’t detected any serious drugs in the schools,” May said. “Maybe Seamus is the reason why a user won’t bring drugs in.”

Seamus’ skills were put to the test recently when a chemical that smelled like a specific drug was hidden high up on a shelf in a locker room, with the placement not know even by May.

“Seamus practically climbed up on the locker when he detected the smell,” May said.

Other detection sites are teen-age parties (when the police are called in) or when a car is pulled over and the officer suspects there are drugs in the car. The dog is called to the site and his nose does the rest.

On a mission to fetter out a dead body, Seamus recently found an unfortunate man who fell over Raymondskill Falls and whose body was taken down river by the current.

“That’s the most unpleasant part of the job for me, but Seamus doesn’t mind it at all,” May said.

“The use of Seamus has been an enormous success,” said Sheriff Phil Bueki. “He has participated in over 50 drug seizures. He is available to other police agencies who are too small to afford the K9 program. So, we are happy to help where we can.”