Stockton Police Chief and 10-Year-Old Lab Win Explosives Detection Title

A perfect score left no room for drift, hesitation or a single missed odor. Stockton University Police Chief Tracy Stuart and her 10-year-old golden Lab, Freya, won the explosives detection division at the United States Police Canine Association’s 2026 National Detector Dog Trials, turning a high-pressure search sport into a clear demonstration of what elite detection work looks like when every cue matters.

The competition ran May 3-6 at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City, where Stockton University Police hosted more than 100 law-enforcement agencies from across the country. Teams came in from as far away as Texas and Oregon, all chasing the same standard: find the hidden explosive compounds, stay steady under pressure and deliver a clean run when the stakes are anything but symbolic. Stockton said Freya and Stuart’s win was their second national title, following an earlier championship in Georgia in 2022.

For this audience, Freya’s age is part of the story. At 10, she is proof that a working dog can remain an elite competitor well past the puppy phase if the partnership is sharp and the maintenance is relentless. Stockton said Freya is certified by both the New Jersey State Police and the USPCA in explosives detection, trained to identify well over 20 different explosive compounds, and used in both proactive and reactive operations. She and Stuart train almost daily, with monthly trainings and evaluations required to keep certification current.

The win also reflects how much longer Stockton’s K-9 program has been building toward this level. The unit was established in 2011 with one handler and one explosives-detection dog, and Stuart became Stockton’s first K-9 officer that same year. She later worked with Hemi, the school’s first K-9 unit partner, and the two of them won back-to-back national detection titles in 2018 and 2019. Hemi retired in 2020 and died in June 2023, just shy of his 14th birthday. Freya has kept that standard alive, placing third nationally in 2025 after recertifying on Stockton’s Galloway campus and finishing second in a 2021 ESPN2 K-9 Detection Dog Challenge, one point behind the winner.

Beyond the trophy, the title underscores why university K-9 teams matter. Stockton’s unit is part of the New Jersey Detect and Render Safe Task Force, which supports Homeland Security, the New Jersey State Police and local law enforcement in bomb-detection operations. Stuart also serves as one of five people on the USPCA national explosives committee, giving this victory weight far beyond one weekend in Atlantic City. In this line of work, perfection means more than a score. It means trust, repetition and the kind of precision that public safety depends on.