{"id":251260,"date":"2026-04-29T16:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T16:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251260\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T16:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T16:44:11","slug":"jacksonville-state-university-adds-k-9-officer-to-campus-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/251260\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville State University adds K-9 officer to campus police"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (WBRC<\/a>) – Jacksonville State University (JSU) now has their own canine officer to help keep students and visitors safe during events.<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville State University Police Department has added Daphne, a 2-year-old Labrador Retriever, to their ranks. She is trained to detect firearms and explosives, especially in large crowds.<\/p>\n

Her arrival is a welcome asset since prior to her, the department was reliant on K-9 support from the Jacksonville Police Department and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA). <\/p>\n

According to JSU, adding a K-9 officer has been a goal for the department for years. They were able to partner with the Alabama Law Enforcement Appreciation Foundation, as well as Global K9. <\/p>\n

Both of those organizations made contributions to the project with the value of what they donated representing about $40,000.<\/p>\n

\"OfficerOfficer Cody Quinn and K-9 Officer Daphne(Alyssa Cash\/Jax State Digital Media Services)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t have been possible without the partnership with both of those entities,\u201d JSU Police Chief Michael Barton explained. \u201cIt\u2019s an extremely expensive venture.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the university says JSU hosts more than 300,000 visitors each year for special events. That number doesn\u2019t include the school\u2019s student body, which is over 10,000 and 1,200 faculty and staff. <\/p>\n

Barton says students, faculty and staff benefit from the added layer of protection Daphne brings. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo support these special events, which are a big part of our planning efforts, as well as the operational efforts of the university police, having a canine resource to do pre-event sweeps and inspections during the event is incredibly important. The third piece of that is responding to and supporting investigative efforts for suspicious incidents,\u201d explained Barton. <\/p>\n

\u201c[Daphne] is a very important member of the team. We view her as another officer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daphne joined the department in July, but she also joined a family. Daphne lives with Officer Cody Quinn, his wife, daughter and their two dogs. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not just the officer but his family\u2019s willingness to take this dog and make it a member of their family,\u201d Barton said. \u201dDaphne lives with them, does everything with them, and then of course comes to work with Cody. That level of commitment and willingness from the officer and his family is what truly makes this program a success\u201d<\/p>\n

Quinn spent six weeks last summer in Opelika at the Global K9 (GK9) Academy training to become a canine handler. After that, Daphne became his full-time partner. They primarily work evenings, from 2 to 10 p.m., and many special events on campus. They\u2019re also available for mutual aid calls. <\/p>\n

Quinn says while on patrol, Daphne is all business. She\u2019s trained to help keep the campus secure. However, when she\u2019s off duty\u2026 she\u2019s a tail-wagging magnet for any and every outstretched hand that crosses her path. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s completely different from a standard patrol officer with your day-to-day duties,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cHaving a canine, it\u2019s like having a child, a toddler, that\u2019s wild 24\/7. It\u2019s a constant battle to keep her calm and to chill out because she loves to run and play with toys. She\u2019s a very energetic dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students, faculty and staff get to enjoy the safety that Daphne brings, but they also just get to enjoy her. When Quinn and Daphne make their rounds, they allow students and faculty to pet Daphne and even take pictures. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s all about her toys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe faculty, staff, and students love to play with Daphne, throw her ball, and watch her chase it. However, when we\u2019re at an event and she\u2019s actually working, she\u2019s focused on doing her job,\u201d Quinn said. <\/p>\n

According to JSU, Daphne was trained using the Vapor Wake (VWK9) method. This method allows dogs to detect person-borne explosives in real time by tracking scent-trails which are known as \u201cvapor wake.\u201d These trails are left by moving individuals. <\/p>\n

The VWK9 method was developed by Auburn University\u2019s Canine Performance Sciences program. These dogs are trained to operate in crowded, high-traffic environments, following scent plumes to their source. <\/p>\n

\"OfficerOfficer Cody Quinn and K-9 Officer Daphne(Alyssa Cash\/Jax State Digital Media Services)<\/p>\n

Daphne even showed what she can do during the football season, according to JSU. She and another K-9 alerted to scent traces of explosives in the back compartment of a charter bus. Officers learned that the bus had been used 10 days earlier for explosives K-9 training which explained the residual scent and Daphne\u2019s alert. <\/p>\n

JSU says Daphne is protected too thanks to a bullet and knife-proof vest received through a charitable donation from the nonprofit organization Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. Each vest is valued at $1,800 and weighs an average of 4-5 pounds. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe vest protects her,\u201d Chief Barton said. \u201cWe want to implement as much officer safety as possible because we look at her as one of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get news alerts in the Apple App Store<\/a> and Google Play Store<\/a> or subscribe to our email newsletter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WBRC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (WBRC) – Jacksonville State University (JSU) now has their own canine officer to help keep students…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8173,26968,109807,26969,109814,101667,8032,8025,109811,109808,109810,3638,116,118,117,15668,16843,8036,8037,109809,66432,8031,115,109812,109815,109813,8021,42325],"class_list":["post-251260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-alabama","tag-alabama-law-enforcement-agency","tag-alabama-law-enforcement-appreciation-foundation","tag-alea","tag-auburn-universitys-canine-performance-sciences-program","tag-daphne","tag-east-alabama","tag-fox-6","tag-gk9","tag-global-k9","tag-global-k9-academy-training","tag-inc","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jacksonville-police-department","tag-jacksonville-state","tag-jacksonville-state-university","tag-jsu","tag-jsu-police-chief-michael-barton","tag-k-9","tag-myfoxal","tag-news","tag-vapor-wake","tag-vested-interest-in-k9s","tag-vwk9","tag-wbrc","tag-wbrc-6"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}