Amtrak police dogs: Dutifully trained to serve and protect the rails and its passengers

More than 50 police dogs serve and protect Amtrak’s trains and stations throughout the United States. From birth to adulthood, these canines are trained to work with their human counterparts, protecting them from threats such as bombs. A few of the dogs are solely trained to detect narcotics. In fact, when Amtrak’s canine program began in the 1980s, it started with narcotics detection dogs.

By 1996 the Explosive Detection Canine program was born, with then-officer Captain Kevin O’Connell and his yellow lab Charlie as the first EDC team.