Whatcom Co. sheriff requests fentanyl-sniffing dog for the jail, but it may be a long wait
A drug problem at the Whatcom County Jail has prompted the sheriff to ask the federal government for a dog that’s specially trained to find the synthetic opioid fentanyl.
“We are having an issue trying to locate and identify fentanyl in our correctional institutions,” Sheriff Donnell Tanksley told the County Council on Tuesday.
Such highly trained canines are in demand nationwide and it might take until 2026 to get one, Tanksley said.
“There is quite the waiting list,” he said.
Inmate Angel Lewis Leffingwell, 38, was charged in June with supplying drugs to two other inmates, one of whom died of an overdose. Following the jail death, roughly 7.9 grams of suspected fentanyl-laced pills while searching Leffingwell’s cell.
There were at least 13 overdoses at the jail in 2023, Chief Corrections Deputy Caleb Erickson told The Bellingham Herald in December.
The county also is pursuing new body scanners for the jail. The existing scanners were purchased in 2018 and 2019 to keep drugs, weapons, cigarettes and lighters out of the jail, but the company that makes the scanners isn’t servicing or maintaining them, Undersheriff Doug Chadwick said in December.
This story was originally published July 31, 2024 at 11:04 AM.
