The NYPD’s newest class of search-and-rescue dogs trained Tuesday at a Staten Island landfill, preparing to join an elite unit shaped by the Sept. 11 attacks.
The 12 Emergency Services Unit canines-in-training dashed through concrete slabs, old cars and scattered steel at a Department of Sanitation transfer station, honing skills they will eventually deploy nationwide. The session came as the department highlighted the program on National Dog Day Wednesday.
One dog, Robot, carries a name chosen by the family of late ESU Sgt. Brian McDonnell, a former Army paratrooper last seen racing into the South Tower to rescue others. “The family of Officer Brian McDonnell, they’re the ones that named him Robot,” his handler, NYPD Police Officer Kayla Kaiser, said.
“Officer Brian McDonnell came to work, and he was very set on work, and it’s all he wanted to do. He was like a robot. He just did his job, he did it well. He did a great job in Truck One.”
“That’s why they chose the name ‘Robot,’ and [the dog’s] the same way,” Kaiser added. “He’s very focused on working. He comes here, and he looks straight at the pile. He just wants to run on it. All he wants to do is work.”
The morning drill had the K9s sniffing barrels for hidden “victims” before tackling two 10,000-square-foot rubble piles. Kaiser explained the process: “The dog will then go and sniff each one of the barrels, and he has to find the live person inside. Once he finds them, he’s gonna bark, indicate that they’re there, and he gets a toy.”
The faux disaster scene includes boats, concrete, steel pipes and rebar. “It really replicates it very well so that when they do get deployed, it’s not a new sight for them,” Kaiser shared. “They know what they’re doing, they know how to do it, and they feel very comfortable on the pile because they’ve done it a million times.”
The doggie crew is working toward joining New York Task Force One, an elite FEMA National Urban Search and Rescue Response System unit staffed by FDNY Special Operations and NYPD ESU, coordinated by NYC Emergency Management. Once certified, the dogs will deploy across the country for search-and-rescue missions, particularly hurricane relief.
In the viral moment that anchors this unit’s identity, NY-TF1’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks stands as one of the most formative events in its history. Fifty-one members of the unit died that day. The task force states on its website: “Their courage and dedication represent the very essence of our task force, and we remain steadfast in our vow to honor their memory with every deployment.” The unit also carries “the memory of the fallen—both those who gave their lives on 9/11 and those lost to related illnesses—forever in our hearts,” adding that “with every mission, NY-TF1 strives to honor their legacy, upholding the highest standards of integrity, courage, and dedication.” The task force first launched in the 1980s and also responded to the Oklahoma City bombing.
The department timed its public glimpse of the program to coincide with National Dog Day on Wednesday.