Police K9 teams showcase detection skills at Atlantic City trials

Inside Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City, a 10-year-old golden retriever named Freya moved through an explosives search like the room belonged to her, while handler Tracy Stuart watched for the smallest change in pace, posture and nose. That was the point of the United States Police Canine Association’s National Detector Dog Trials: not a showy victory lap, but a realistic test of whether a dog and handler can stay sharp when the environment is busy, unfamiliar and full of distractions.

The 2026 trials ran from Sunday, May 3, through Wednesday, May 6, and turned the resort into a live demonstration site for narcotics and explosive detection. More than 100 police K-9 teams came in from across the country, with agencies traveling as far as Texas and Oregon. Handlers worked controlled searches in vehicles, hotel rooms and staged areas, giving spectators and fellow professionals a close look at how detection dogs are expected to operate when the work is messy, fast and unforgiving.

The dogs on site were trained for the full range of field problems: bombs, drugs, accelerants and human remains. That mix matters because the same basics keep showing up no matter what odor is hidden. The dog has to commit to the scent picture. The handler has to read the dog without getting in the way. And both have to stay precise under pressure, whether the search is for certification points or for a real threat in a crowded venue.

Stockton University Police Department hosted the competition and moved it off campus to Harrah’s because classes were in session. Stockton had hosted the same event on campus in 2018, and the university said the Atlantic City setting let the trials continue without interrupting school operations. The event listing set the logistics with the same kind of discipline the dogs were judged on: pre-registration was due April 30, the certification fee was $200, banquet tickets were $25, and Harrah’s rooms ran $100 plus tax per night Sunday through Wednesday morning, with a $174 plus tax rate for Saturday, May 2.

For Stuart and Freya, the stakes were personal as well as professional. They won the explosives detection division with a perfect score, adding another national title to the one they earned in 2022 in Georgia. Stockton said this victory may have been their last national competition together, a fitting capstone for a team that showed how long-term handler-dog trust can turn into clean, repeatable work.

The field also included first-time national competitors like Rob Balestrieri of the Trenton Police Department, who handled Vita, a 5-year-old black lab, and Brian McCormack of the Morris County Sheriff’s Office, who ran Abbi, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois. Their presence made the weekend bigger than a trophy hunt. It was a bench test for the next wave of working dogs, and a reminder that in K-9 detection, the real edge is not excitement. It is control.