In a related story, the kids had a really great recess, and the dad returned 21 grams to the evidence locker.

The Detective should be arrested for "Possession of the controlled substance" as it is suppose to be illegal. I feel that this is horrifying and allowing this will only open the door for future problems.

Now that one can use Illegal drugs, why not weapons?

I don't know; I guess the positive spin (narcotics officer, daughter wants to be like dad, etc...) is a positive message. But, if the kid's a manipulator it could be an easy out for a school task. She didn't train the dogs, didn't buy the cocaine (?????), didn't train her dad, don't believe the act was even on school grounds. Other contenders may take issue with this.

Beware, pups, of your line of work, especially in Miami... we all know what happened to Brian Griffin...

@jake2247, no kidding about doing it themselves.

Last year, my first-grade daughter had to do a science-fair project. Yes, I picked the experiment since I had to find it on the Internet, make sure it was age-appropriate, and get the supplies, but I made sure that she did it all.

I had her hypothesize about what fruit or vegetable would produce the most current (with a galvanized nail and copper spike stuck in each), and why (an orange, lemon, tomato, or onion...the lemon won). She measured each voltage with a meter, and recored them. Then, she put several lemons in sequence, one at a time, to see how many it took to light a small led light.

She won, but to prove that she did it, and not me, I recorded the whole experiment, and put it on a laptop to play during the fair. She did a great job, but I didn't want anyone to think that she did not do the bulk of the work, even if she did need my help from time to time.

It sure sounds like the father in this story did all the work.

On another note, that does not seem like an appropriate experiment, nor would I think that it is appropriate to use police resources for it.

Heck, it there's a bunch of people over outside, my one dog can sniff out whom has a bag/roach, which pocket it's in, within a minute.... maybe she's ready for a paycheck? Actually, I think she likes the munchies.....

This is a terribly-written article. It doesn't explain in any detail exactly what the prize-winning experiment was! The reporter was so hung up on having cocaine int he same room as a child that s/he didn't describe the experiment, which was the whole point of the article!

This is clearly a kid getting advantage in the science fair due to her parent's occupation. When my kid was in grade school (3rd grade) there was an inventor's fair, a kid from his scout pack had a project CLEARLY put together by his engineer dad. Complete with technical drawings.

Why is this news????? What have we here, a reporter on crack?

Dogs getting high. Real crackers So what were the results? How many lines could a dog do before blacking out?

I think the 9 year old kid could do more.

I don't see a problem with this experiment. It was all conducted at the police academy, so there were no drugs on school property. The article states the girl thought out the experiment, as far as timing how long it takes the dogs to find the illicit substance. You can't expect the father to allow the child to handle the cocaine, or the dogs for that matter, but if it was truly her idea and she did the timing of the events, I don't see a problem with it. I wish the article went into a little more detail about the experiment itself, but it doesn't.

What is horrifying is that they don't explain the details of the project. I don't see anything wrong with demonstrating how these dogs do their work or the fact that dad handled the evidence. The child obviously did the detailed work and want's to become a peace officer. What's wrong with that???

So just what DID THE GIRL DO???? We know what the DAD did. I don't think this was fair to the other kids!

And after the science fair was over, the police promptly arrested little Emma for possession of an illegal substance and then went home to snort the remainder of the cocaine. :)

The article doesn't mention whether any "extra" cocaine was found on the police facility premises.

That would have made a better news story.

father + badge+gun =winner

The three contraband-seeking chows included a springer spaniel named Roger; a chocolate lab, Franky; and a spaniel, Levi,

So the three chows were 3 different breeds of dog, I wasn't aware a chow could be a different breed of dog. This has to be the worst written article of the year(were only in January), I could have written a better article in third grade. I had to read the Herald's article to fill in all the gaps. They should have just posted the Heralds article and given credit to the Herald.

Do these "journalists" ever read what they write?

The three contraband-seeking chows included a springer spaniel named Roger; a chocolate lab, Franky; and a spaniel, Levi, according to the Herald.

WTH?

From other sources, I don't think the three dogs were highly trained. The goal of the experiment was to discover which breed was the BETTER one for the type of job. The only thing the dad did was actually hide the drugs, so the girl didn't handle them.

I wish it had been better explained in the article.

It actually sounds like a pretty cool experiment. As to whether she had an "unfair" advantage because of her dad's job, I'd say not really. She KNEW about this type of work because of it, but lots of kids KNOW about science stuff from their parents. Kids of doctors, engineers, etc. If she developed the concept and the parameters of the experiment, did all the timing. It's her experiement.

I saw one poster who said he researched experiments on the internet and then got the supplies. That's JUST as much if not more interference than here. Let the kid research, then you can determine if it's "age appropriate".

Geeze, And all I got was third place for building a wind tunnel and testing airfoils.

...and what did the data show????? The stupid article doesn't say!

@"Intelligent", it does say - she was timing the dogs to see how long it took each of them to find the substance.

Parents help their kids all the time with their science experiments. All the dad did was hide the drugs and hold the dog. Would ppl rather her handle the drugs?

I'd say the resources are what's unfair, not the fact that her dad helped her. Like you said, (most) parents help their kids with their projects but not everyone has access to drug sniffing dogs AND coke :) And I doubt the MDPD would be willing to supply these resources to any other kid with a science fair project, just saying. It makes for a funny story but not much of an experiment, more like a time trial for the dogs.

"it was kind of my idea" was said be the 4th grader...

“It was kind of my idea, because I wanted to do my dad’s job,” Bartelt said of her award-winning experiment, which took place at police facilities.

However, it could be seen as a little unfair since she had the resources available to her. Not may have the same resources available. Although it is a good experiment.

He should be arrested for possession. If a parent wanted to use an illicit drug as an experience there would be an uproar but since he is an "authority" figure he can do such things. We wonder why this country is going to hell. It is a country of arbitrariness with a front of structure and order.

Absolutely agree with Larlarpet. That is one of my pet peeves - - going to the elementary school Science Fair, and seeing how obvious it is that each project was done by the parent(s), not the child. How does the child learn anything when the parent does it all (except how nice it was to get out of doing the work themselves!)?When the child grows up, are the parents going to do their work projects for them, too? No wonder we lag behind most other countries in science test scores!

@Posey the science fair winners aren't based on what resources they use . The point of a science fair is to get the kids thinking and to use the skills that they teach them in class ie. Ask a question, think up a way to answer the question, think of a hypothesis, conduct the experiment and report on the findings. All the dad did was provide a part of the experiment/demonstration. Its no different than a parent going out to buy baking soda and vinegar for a volcano demonstration or lighting stuff when fire is involved...except its coke and a drug sniffing dog lol.

@gdp15 if you honestly think that the dad who is a detective should be arrested for drug possession because he handled drugs in the 'drug sniffng dog training facility' then I hope to the good Lord above that you are never picked for jury duty or given authority over anything more than a gerbil.

As I see the problem, it's that the police officer used his position as LEO to provide circumstances that would be illegal for other contestants to have. How is that fair?

It's no secret that law enforcement personnel are held to a more "flexible" standard than the rest of us are held--everything from traffic violations to, whatever they can get away with.

Even gullible juries seem to assume that because it is a police officer giving the testimony that his/her statements are always honest and fair. Not so, in some cases.

Sorry for digressing off topic, but I thought it is a point worth bringing up.

In fairness, police officers have a thankless job that doesn't pay according to the risks they take. I'm confident that the majority of police officers are good for the community.

The aticle doesnt state she did anything you just said lol You made that all up

I agree. They probably will. Still...kudos to daughter and dad for doing a great job...and to the dogs that did the REAL work.

Agreed. I can see this getting out of hand down the road, especially in Colorado and Oregon.

What does being liberal have to do with having an opinion?

Wouldnt a "liberal" be for the experiment seeing that its thinking outside the box? Why bring politics into everything?

I can't wait for all the conservatives to start with the hate comments.
Oh wait.

I agree with Rose Colored Glasses. What does this have to do with politics, or are you just looking for an excuse to flame?

Obama did it... j/k

It looks like you are the NUT to start nonsense. I am sick of people like you. I cant even read a sports article without some person like you trying to bring politics into it. I wish people like you would just GO AWAY!!!!!!

I'm a moderate conservative with several "liberal" opinions.

I can't wait for presumptive, uninformed puppets of various schools of thought (and schools without thought) to start with the hate comments.

Every kid has help with their homework and projects. The ones that dont are the ones that have sucky projects.

Rose, not true, I did a complete replica of a nuclear power plant in SC for a science project that included cutaways and explanation of the whole process of generating power from the plant. All by myself.

Yes, we should genetically modify humans to have an enhanced olfactory sense and use them instead.

Police and military dogs are better cared and provided for than most personal pets. They actually get wages for their work, and a retirement pension, just like a human would.

Using dogs by police is not animal cruelty. Dogs are trained for police work and military work, and are respected members of the forces. Dogs like to have a job rather than laying around on your couch getting stressed. I suppose it was animal cruelty when horses were used to pull logs out of the woods in early America, and when dogs are used to herd sheep. Animals prefer to work, and are not really made to be couch potatoes.

While it's true they are normally extremely well cared for, I'd like someone in the Secret Service to explain how the Secret Service dog was "accidentally" killed by "accidentally" falling off the roof in New Orleans this week while sniffing for bombs for Joe Biden.

Usually, the only times those dogs make "mistakes" is when ordered to do so by humans.

Are you saying dogs don't make mistakes? Like when my dad's dog tried to play with a porcupine?

Just like the one that died last year in a police cruiser in Iowa when the officer left the dog to die on a day when it was around 100 degrees outside.... Did not hear what happened to the officer for that, must have only gotten a hand slap, anyone else would have gotten a life sentence for killing a police officer.

Dogs better cared for ??

Yes at Tax payer expense and a pension to boot. If a police dog gets the slightest injury while mauling you, you will be charged with assault on an officer and put in prison to be tortured by the guards. People mean nothing to these ATTACK dogs trained to go for your genitals. How many times have you seen a police dog handler allow the dog to maul someone on the ground just because he had the chance to exercise the dog? Still say Police Dogs that are trained to attack people are being abused not to mention the one they maul.

Bridget, I think you and I are the only ones who recognize that the article doesn't explain what was so great about her experiment or how it worked!

Look at all of the idiots commenting about everything under the sun except what was so great about her experiment! Unbelievable...they instantly moved into their partisan positions and began criticizing each other - even President Obama - ha!

Yes, definitely missing from the story. The writer was just taken with the coke connection.

Where in the strory does it say she did any of that?????????? What story did you read?

Why was the experiment unusual? Why was it significant? What was her hypothesis? Where did the parameters of her experiment take her?

Oh, the article doesn't say!!!!

Try breaking your LONG response into smaller paragraphs... more people might read your post.

Thanks for the link.

I didn't know that working a stop watch was science.

Apparently you don't know much about scientific testing. A stop watch most certainly can be part of conducting a scientific test. And this was at the elementary school level, not professional level. Thinking up doing a scientific test to find out who or what is the best for or at something is pretty much par for that age group. There are procedures involved beyond just calling all dogs & using a stop watch. You have to use scientific methodology. That's the point, along with coming up with a project that would require the use of same. At least scientific methodology as it applies to the age group in question.