Sheriff Gets 1st 'Live Find' K-9 In Honor Of High School Student

PASCO COUNTY, FL — The Pasco Sheriff's Office has K-9s specializing in sniffing out drugs, catching criminals on the run and detecting bombs. Now, with the addition of 2-year-old Labrador retriever Maddie, the sheriff's office has its first "live find" K-9.

Live find K-9s are specially trained to locate people who are still alive after a natural or man-made disaster such as a building collapse in the aftermath of a hurricane.

The K-9s are taught to work at a distance from their handlers, walk through unstable rubble and use their keen sense of smell to find people who are buried.

Maddie and her handler, Deputy Robert Lewis, are currently state-certified for search and rescue efforts and soon will be federally-certified so they can go wherever disaster strikes.

The team has the ability to train right at home on the Pasco Sheriff's Office's two "rubble pile" training facilities certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The training facility simulates various scenarios the team may encounter such as a parking garage or house collapse.

As with all the sheriff's office's K-9s, the funds for K9 Maddie were donated.

The Moore family wanted to honor their daughter, Madison. The River Ridge High School student died suddenly on Dec. 12, 2017, at the age of 17.

Maddie Moore wanted to pursue a career in forensics, and her parents, Edward and Angela Moore, felt that K-9 Maddie's work was a way to fulfill their daughter's dream.