And the name of the new Narcotics Detection K-9 deputy with the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office is Trip.
The Sheriff’s Office held a vote on its Facebook page Trip received the most votes out of the 1400 that were cast. The four choices all reflected names of significance to the Tompkins County community.
The name ‘Trip’ was derived from Triphammer Road, which runs from Thurston Avenue in Cornell Heights through Cayuga Heights to the Community Corners. Its extension, North Triphammer Road, continues north to State Route 34in the Town of Lansing. The road was constructed after the bridge over Fall 88 Town of Ithaca Creek Gorge was built in 1897, opening up the land to the north of the Cornell campus for development. To this day the road serves as a main route between the university and the residential and commercial areas to the north. It was named for a triphammer, a heavy power-operated hammer lifted by a cam or lever and then dropped. In the nineteenth century, Levi Coon built a triphammer at the foot of the falls to tap the waterpower of Fall Creek in order to produce guns.
K-9 Trip and his handler, Deputy Kenney, will soon both begin the process of becoming single-purpose certified in Narcotics Detection and will hopefully be certified by April 2024. K-9 Trip will not be crossed trained in bite or apprehension work. K-9 Trip will be trained in a passive detection alert, meaning the canine will indicate the presence of drugs by sitting in front of the detected location. With the legalization of marijuana, K-9 will not be trained to detect cannabis. Similar to K-9 Laker, K-9 Trip will be approachable and capable of working in and around people, including children.
