Baltimore Allows Local Cops To Be Trained in K-9 Exam of Seaport Vessels, Shipping Containers

Political leaders in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, have repeatedly emphasized to the Democratic Party watercarriers in the news media that it is a city devoted to being a sanctuary and a provider for thousands of illegal aliens.

However, these same leaders are clever enough to allow their local cops to be trained by the Homeland Security Department’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) which includes the U.S. Border Patrol, an agency denigrated by Democrat officials as being the “Gestapo” or “Nazi Stormtroopers.”

While ICE special agents remain “persona non grata” in Baltimore, the mayor and his administration, including police and security departments, understand the significant threat posed by ports of entry, especially the Port of Baltimore.

According to Stephen Sapp, media officer at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, his agency led a multi-agency canine examination of ships and shipping containers at the Port of Baltimore on Wednesday.

“Dubbed Operation Port Days, the operation was billed as an opportunity to expose more local police narcotics detector dogs to the complexities of shipboard and shipping container examinations while searching for narcotics and other illicit contraband. Hotel-height container ships, pose unique challenges to canine examinations with tight spaces between container stacks and the myriad of ladders between decks,” said Sapp.

In a press statement on Friday, he said, “Several canine alerts resulted in intrusive and non-intrusive examinations, though the team found no illicit contraband. By operation’s end, the multi-agency team inspected three ships and more than 80 trucks and shipping containers at both the seaport’s entry and departure gates.”

The CBP press release stated how “the canine teams represented Kent, Caroline and Dorchester County Sheriff’s Offices and the Federalsburg and Easton Police Departments along the Eastern Shore.”

Experts in security and safety within the shipping industry believe that the world is seeing a trend in larger merchant ships, and in particular ships carrying more than 10,000 containers.

These experts, many of whom are former police officers, security directors and intelligence officers, warn that transnational criminal organizations are taking advantage of the new paradigm to transport huge loads of concealed cocaine and other dangerous drugs across the globe as evidenced by the many recent significant narcotics seizures in the United States and Europe.

“Customs and Border Protection knows that our local law enforcement partners’ canine capabilities can serve as an invaluable force multiplier to quickly and efficiently inspect the larger container ships arriving from high-risk ports in narcotics source nations,” said Casey Durst, CBP’s Director of Field Operations in Baltimore. “CBP and all of our law enforcement partners remain collectively committed to intercepting dangerous drug loads before it can harm our communities.”

Back in June, CBP officers in Philadelphia led an ad-hoc team of narcotics detector dogs from local and state law enforcement agencies aboard the MSC Gayane, a massive container ship longer than three football fields and capable of stacking 10,000 shipping containers. That inspection discovered a CBP record of nearly 20 tons of cocaine.

In addition to local law enforcement canine teams, CBP used non-intrusive inspection and radiation detecting technology. The U.S. Coast Guard, which is part of the Homeland Security Department as well a being part of the Defense Department, contributed to the K9 operation.

“One of CBP’s primary missions is to facilitate international trade to the from the United States. It is a key element of CBP’s national security and consumer safety priorities,” said Stephen Sapp.

CBP’s border security mission is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations.