After drug scare, CCSD police K-9s back on duty

Del Sol Academy of the Performing Arts welcomed a pair of heroes Tuesday — along with their human partners.

Ace and Peppermint, who are part of the K-9 unit at the Clark County School District Police Department, showed off their skills in detecting drugs and weapons during a demonstration on the Las Vegas school’s campus.

They were exposed last week to “some illegal and extremely dangerous drugs” while helping to execute a search warrant during a joint raid with another agency, police said. The K-9s were administered the anti-opioid drug NARCAN and rushed to an emergency veterinary facility.

CCSDPD Lt. Bryan Zink said the department has a NARCAN supply provided by the Southern Nevada Health District, mainly to keep its officers safe in the event of accidental exposure to drugs like fentanyl. “Luckily, our officer was able to connect with a local veterinarian that said, ‘Hey, go ahead and use it on the dogs.’”

After an overnight stay in the hospital, Peppermint and Ace were released and have fully recovered, police said. After a few days of rest, they officially returned to duty on Monday.

Zink said the department’s K-9s have participated in over 1,300 “random sniffs” of classrooms since July 1.

Their incident came roughly a week after Enzo, a K-9 with the Metropolitan Police Department, was stabbed during a barricade event.

Contact Paul Pearson at ppearson@reviewjournal.com.