2002 Detector Case of the Year

K9 Officer Mariann Baumbach & K9 Thor NY/NJ Port Authority Police

The USPCA newly elected national secretary JD Toth presents officer Mariann Baumbach the Case of the Year Award.

Officer Baumbach & K9 Thor responded to a call for assistance from the DEA to search several suspected vehicles for narcotics. The team responded to a tri-level parking garage in Upper Manhattan. The team was directed to the rear of the garage that contained three vans and the team began its search.

K9 Thor began pulling the officer towards the center van and scratched at the rear doors going under the right side exiting by the side doors indicating on these doors. The owner of the van was located and gave consent to open the van. On opening the doors under a painters tarp several large hard suitcases were observed with the seams duct taped closed.

One case was opened and found to contain bricks of white powder wrapped in plastic and sealed with duct tape. The owner was placed under arrest and the van containing the evidence was seized.

Before clearing the scene another team of DEA agents requested the K9 to assist in the searching of a vehicle that had been under surveillance. The agents were concerned on the reliability of the canine working in snow and twenty-degree weather.

Officer Baumbach advised this would not effect the team reliability and responded to their location. On the teams arrival a crowd had begun to gather and the close proximity of nearby guard dogs could be a distraction.

Officer Baumbach & K9 Thor did not hesitate and proceeded to the vehicle that had been under surveillance with K9 exhibiting a strong alert on the rear doors. The vehicle owner was at the scene and gave the officers permission to open the vehicle. In the vehicle was the same type and color of a painter's tarp recovered in the first vehicle covering four hard suitcases with seam also taped closed. The owner was placed under arrest and the van containing the evidence was seized.

The agent in charged called Officer Baumbach the next day to advise that the K9 team had located 537 kilos of cocaine with a street value of 13 million dollars. Not a bad days work.

Thanks to IAMS for supporting our awards program.