Government
Jun. 18, 2002
Bomb-Sniffing Security Dogs Will Be Justices' Best Friend
WASHINGTON - Some new sounds will be floating soon through the Supreme Court's marble halls - the patter of little bare feet, some panting and maybe even a few wayward barks.
As part of increased security at the nation's highest court, which also includes more barriers and proposed street closings, the court's police department has purchased two bomb-sniffing dogs named Jake and Eaton.
Although the rest of the nation's capital has been on high alert since Sept. 11, life at the Supreme Court had been rolling along, largely untouched, until recently.
In the wake of October's anthrax scare, court officials instituted tighter screening procedures for mail and packages sent to the court. But court visitors and staff saw nothing of the street barriers, National Guard troops or other signs of the fight against terrorism that have been fixtures around the Capitol, the White House and other government buildings.
In recent weeks, however, it has become apparent that the justices, too, are concerned about possible attacks.
The most visible sign for now will be the two 2-year-old Labrador retrievers. They will join the court's 120-member police force after completing their training program with the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Force later this summer.
Two court police officers have volunteered to partner with the dogs as handlers and are attending the 12-week training course along with their canine friends. Once Jake and Eaton graduate, they will assist with delivery and vehicle screenings, as well as conduct sweeps of the buildings and grounds both at the court and at its off-site warehouse.
The dogs and the officers also will be ready for those occasions when tourists and absent-minded lawyers leave their backpacks or briefcases in the court's cafeteria or hallways. Previously, such incidents prompted the police to evacuate all or part of the building until bomb-sniffing canines from the nearby U.S. Capitol Police headquarters or from the Metropolitan Police Department could come to the scene and give an all clear.
When Jake and Eaton are not on duty, they will live with their handlers, Officers Blake Taylor and Eric Menke.
Someone with a sense of humor has placed photos of the dogs on the court's internal Web site and in the book of employee photos - in the section reserved for police officers. The two sleek black dogs even have a job title: Ordinance Detection Specialist.
Other features of the court's new security plan, which is being kept under wraps, became known recently when D.C. officials publicly raised objections.
On May 20, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor sent the court's proposed perimeter security plan to Congress. The plan includes installing bollards, benches, walls and landscaping to insulate and protect the court. Congress is involved because the architect of the Capitol is responsible for overseeing the court's grounds.
The controversy was sparked by the court's request to close two adjacent residential streets to through traffic during working hours. One street runs along the north side of the court, while the other is along the back, where the justices' conference room and the chambers of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist are located.
The court's proposal would mesh with a plan by the Capitol Police to extend street closures to a wider area around the Capitol, which is across the street from the high court.
But District of Columbia's delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, blew the whistle on the plan, complaining that local officials had not been consulted. That same complaint has followed all of the other street closings around federal buildings here since Sept. 11.
In response, Capitol Police officials promised to consult on the proposal, and the fate of the street closings remains uncertain.
MORE ANIMALS - The arrival of Jake and Eaton won't be the court's first experience in recent months with the animal kingdom. In January, a wily fox sneaked through a door into the court's basement parking garage - a trespass that was caught on security cameras.
Despite a search by police officers and hounds from a local fox-hunting club, the fox was not found. Fox traps were set inside the court building, with no results. Finally this spring, the search was called off.
Court officials surmised that the intruder had fled the building soon after his incursion. Too bad Jake and Eaton weren't on the job. They could have added Fox Detection Specialist to their job classification.
AHEAD OF THE CURVE - One area in which the court's security already is out in front is its ability to respond to any potential nuclear, biological or chemical threats. About 20 police officers are volunteer members of a specialized unit, the NBC Team, which was developed in 1998 to deal with potential problems.
The team has worked extra hours drafting an action plan to protect the court and its employees, and it was the group's inspection procedure that spotted the anthrax in an air filter that led to the court's weeklong evacuation in October.
"The team's efforts have been so advanced that other government agencies have contacted it for advice in establishing similar procedures," according to the court's in-house newsletter, Oyez! Oyez!
The team's mission gained importance in recent weeks with warnings that if a "dirty bomb" was exploded near the White House, it could decapitate the nation's leadership. But a model of the effect of such a device, produced by the Federation of American Scientists, shows the fallout likely would miss the Supreme Court.
That, of course, is just a "model."
David Pike
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