West TN Drug Task Force hits interstate for K-9, narcotic search training

SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — For agents with the West Tennessee Drug Task Force, training with their K-9 partners is a routine to keep them ready for anything on the interstate.

“We try to do real-life, scenario-based training,” Special Agent in Charge Frank Bell said. “We’re putting cars that are loaded with large narcotics on the side of the interstate, so they’re training in real life where they work.”

That training means setting up vehicles on the side of the interstate for K-9s and officers assigned to the Drug Task Force to search every other week.

“There’s many hidden compartments that are built in, and sometimes the only way you find these compartments is with a drug dog,” Bell said.

The Drug Task Force based in Shelby County is made up of officers, investigators and deputies from law enforcement agencies across West Tennessee. One of those officers, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Detective Eric Johnson, said agents with the task force follow certain steps before they request a K-9 unit to help out.

“I tell them why I stopped them, and then after I tell them why I stopped them I ask them certain questions like where they’re coming from, where they’re going,” Johnson said.

In the past year, agents have seized narcotics from traffic stops that have tested positive for a potentially deadly drug.

“Just recently a lot of our cocaine seizures tested positive for fentanyl,” Johnson said.

Fentanyl, an opioid-based drug, has recently caused fatal overdoses across the country and in Tennessee.

“[It’s] extremely dangerous,” Bell said. “It’s dangerous to the officers, dangerous to the dogs. Simple contact could kill a dog.”

And while the task force searches for narcotics, Bell said they’re always on the lookout for any type of criminal activities.

“We get robbery suspects, wanted parties, people that are escaped felons, and drug dealers,” Bell said.

The 28th, 29th and 30th Judicial District Drug Task Force includes law enforcement from the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s Memphis District, the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office, Memphis Police Department, Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, Oakland Police Department, Fayette County Sheriff’s Office and the Attorney General’s Drug Task Force.