New K9 Officer Joins Westchester Police To Sniff Out Crime

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY — There is a new officer working Westchester County focusing on arson detection.

Acorn, a black Labrador Retriever, has been paired with Detective John Peters to become the Westchester County Police Department's second-ever accelerant detection team.

The pooch began his training with Paws with a Cause, an organization that provides service dogs for people with disabilities.

However, Acorn's nose — and his desire to sniff everything — got him kicked out of service-dog training, but made him a great fit as a dog that can detect accelerants and help solve arson cases.

Acorn and Peters graduated from the State Farm Arson Dog Program this past April.

The program has trained more than 425 canines in 46 states since 1993, according to a spokesperson. There are currently more than 100 certified teams trained through the program investigating suspicious fires throughout North America. State Farm provides the funding and the teams are trained by Maine Specialty Dogs under the authority of the Maine State Police.

Accelerant detection canine teams are each made up of a human handler and a canine partner trained to work together to locate potential evidence of arson following a fire.

While on a scene, Acorn’s job is to alert Peters to the location of an accelerant, such as gasoline or oil, that may have been used to start the fire.

Peters then can collect the evidence and send it to a laboratory for confirmation and identification.

Acorn became an official accelerant detection canine on April 30, the same day his predecessor, Daisy, retired. Daisy’s well-deserved retirement comes after serving with Peters on Westchester County Police Department’s first accelerant detection canine team since 2012.

Like Acorn, Daisy originally began training for Paws with a Cause, but it was determined she would be a better fit for the State Farm Arson Dog Program.

Peters said that, during her career, Daisy worked more than 700 fire investigations, ranging from multimillion-dollar losses to fatalities.

“Daisy proved to be one of the most valuable tools in these investigations,” he said.

The team also served seven neighboring counties under mutual aid agreements, in addition to Westchester County.

“When not investigating suspicious fires, Daisy participated in hundreds of public relations details, visiting groups ranging from pre-school students through senior citizens,” Peters said.

Daisy will spend retirement simply being the beloved pet of the Peters’ family, along with their pit bull Toby.

Each year, hundreds of lives are lost and billions of dollars worth of property damage occur as a result of fires set by arsonists, a State Farm spokesperson said.

The goal of the State Farm Arson Dog program is to combat arson and provide law enforcement officials with the tools to combat this deadly, costly crime.

Labrador Retrievers are primarily chosen for the program because of their superior ability to discriminate scents at a fire scene. They also typically have good dispositions and outgoing personalities and are very active.