The URI Police Department is welcoming an explosives detection dog to the university. Figaro is a19 month old Labrador retriever and recently completed 6 weeks of training to become certified. He was initially with a program to be a guiding eye dog. However, the state police saw he fit best working as a detector dog. Sgt. Erica Vieira, his caretaker, says that every meal is a training session for him. She sets up a training course at every feeding time and he only eats out of her hand if and when he finds something that could be used to make an explosive. With ties to the Connecticut State Police, Maj. Michael Jagoda got in touch with the leadership committee who agreed Figaro would be a great resource for the university. URI Police say they believe Figaro reinforces the community policing philosophy at the university and plan to have him at all the community policing events.
WATCH : URI Police Department welcomes explosives detection K9 to the university
