New Jersey Honors Bomb-Sniffing Dogs Who Kept an Election Safe

2 weeks ago 21

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Rooney, a burly, middle-aged cop of few words, was starting another day of police work when an alarming call came in.

Bomb threat.

It was Election Day last month in Toms River, N.J., and people quickly had to be evacuated from a polling place. Voting was halted.

Rooney and his partner sped down to Cedar Grove Elementary School. Within 20 minutes, they had cleared the school and determined there was no danger. Voting swiftly resumed.

Now Rooney, an 8-year-old German shepherd with a knack for sniffing out explosives, has been honored for his heroics alongside 28 of his canine counterparts. The pack of law enforcement dogs rushed to polling places across New Jersey on Election Day after a wave of bomb threats, sweeping the sites so efficiently that they were rarely closed for longer than 30 minutes.

Rooney, a German shepherd, being led on a leash by his handler, Sgt. Matthew Broderick, during a ceremony honoring the work of canine units on Election Day.

For their efforts, the dogs received Selfless Service awards from the New Jersey attorney general’s office at a ceremony on Thursday at the Trenton War Memorial.