Cobb County K9 Officers Get Extra Protection in Hot Patrol Cars

Cobb County’s K9 officers are an invaluable asset to the county’s ability to sniff out illegal drugs, find missing people, and take down dangerous suspects.

Now, each Cobb County police dog will be a little safer, as the department has recently outfitted K9 vehicles with new sensors to help keep the four-legged officers safe during the muggy southern summer.

Each of the county’s seven K9 unit vehicles have been equipped with a state of the art system that detects if the temperature inside exceeds 85 degrees, WSB-TV reports. If that threshold is passed, the vehicle’s lights and sirens will activate, windows will roll down, and the K9 officer’s human partner will receive a notification on a pager he or she carries at all times.

Georgia summers can be very unkind to humans and dogs alike, and dogs left inside hot cars can quickly overheat and even die; in June of 2013, a Woodstock Police Department K9 officer died of heat stroke after being left in his handler’s car for too long.

The new system cost $979 per unit, but each alarm system is another layer of safety which ensures K9 officers and their handlers stay as safe as possible in the line of duty.