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Paw Patrol: K-9 officer can detect vape smoke in schools

When students in the Central Columbia School District head back to school in August, they'll find a new four-legged staff member in the hallways.

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — School Resource Officer Kevin Bradley is getting a new partner this school year at Central Columbia School District.

Sully the K-9 officer is reporting for duty, and he'll be tasked with a special mission — to detect vape smoke in the schools.

Officer Bradley says, unfortunately, Sully will likely have plenty of chances to show off those skills.

"It's increased, and it's into the middle school. We have fifth and sixth graders that have word on it. So hopefully, this will be a deterrent. Hopefully, we don't have to arrest anybody for it. Our idea is – keep it out of the schools."

"We really want [the dog] as more of a deterrent and keeping kids from vaping while in school," said Central Columbia Superintendent Jeff Groshek. "We don't want them vaping anywhere but keep it out of the schools at least."

Superintendent Groshek says trying to stop kids from vaping has become almost a full-time job for many administrators. Sully was hired to take on that responsibility.

"There's kids going out, meeting in the bathrooms, and thankfully we have students informing us of other students doing this. However, now with the dog here, it's going to help us even more."

The K-9 can also detect other things like marijuana and gunpowder, but district officials say vaping is the biggest problem in their classrooms these days.

Sully was expensive, about $9,000. But thanks to the Bloomsburg community, he won't cost taxpayers a cent. The PTO did a lot of fundraising, and local businesses volunteered to feed and treat Sully free of charge.

"Like every other community, we care about our kids. And we know kids are making bad choices," said the superintendent.

Sully's first day on the job is on the first day of school in August.

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