Four-legged bomb squad represents city at Winter Games
By Lisa Weighton - Victoria News
Published: February 16, 2010 12:00 PM
Updated: February 16, 2010 2:53 PM
Winter Games are well underway and many athletes so close to Olympic gold they can taste it.
But one special Victoria team has already tasted gold, and is now working behind the scenes in Vancouver using a keen sense of smell to keep those athletes safe.
Victoria police 
Sgt. Mike Chicorelli and his partner, Max, a six-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever, won three gold medals and one bronze medal for explosive searches in last summer's World Police and Fire Games in Vancouver.
Now they're back for the Olympics, and while Max isn't competing in these Games, the explosives detection dog will keep his nose to the ground and show his stuff from the sidelines.
"The dog is a lot quicker and safer than utilizing members to search," Chicorelli said. "If there's any indication that there's an explosive odour, then he'll alert that to me by sitting."
The pair are stationed in Whistler for the duration of the Games, part of a large network of police officers from across the country working in a joint security effort.
"I have 100 per cent faith in (Max) and he's very good at what he does. You just have to trust him. I don't really think too much about the fact that I could get blown up," Chicorelli said.
While he won't have time to take in any events, he will watch how a world-calls security operation works.
"I've never been involved in anything like this before. There's obviously an action plan that takes a great deal of organization to execute. Just by being here, I've been able to see how things are planned and how they're broken down into smaller components, so it has been very good for my learning."
It will be an "invaluable" experience for all 49 Victoria police officers working in Vancouver, said Victoria police spokesperson, Sgt. Grant Hamilton.
"They will bring that back here for when we have (another) Olympic torch event, (royal visits) or other big functions," he said.
Const. Brian Asmussen works with Chicorelli in the Victoria K9 unit, and looks forward to learning as much through Chicorelli's experience as he can.
"He's our sergeant, so we always pluck little bits of knowledge out all the time," Asmussen said.
Having watched Chicorelli and Max work together, he said the keys to their bond are Max's enthusiasm and his handler's experience.
"Max's personality is designed for it. He's a very energetic searcher. He's very focused and Mike has sculpted that into a dog who knows what he's searching for and he searches very methodically for it.
"If I'm on a call with Mike and Max and Max sits, I'm going to leave really quickly," he joked.
March 2010
