A dog’s best friend

As the old adage puts it, a dog is man’s best friend. For Freddie Guajardo, however, dogs are more than that.

Guajardo’s career with the CNMI Customs Services exemplified how dogs can be of greater importance to mankind by assisting in the government’s efforts to combat the trafficking of illegal drugs and even terrorism—making the community a more peaceful place to live in.

Guajardo is the Western Pacific’s only Dog Detector Program specialist, achieving the rank of chief instructor. He has taught his specialized skills in handling police dogs not only in the CNMI but also in Palau and American Samoa.

Guajardo was instrumental in the establishment of a strong Detector Dog Program in the CNMI, which he later headed as manager before retiring from the CNMI government in December 2005 after nearly 15 years of service with the Customs Division.

Guajardo’s love for dogs stemmed from his childhood, when he would feed the house pets.

“When I grew up, we always had one or two dogs in the house,” Guajardo recalled. “I grew up with dogs. My love for animals inspired me to pursue this direction.”

Before joining the CNMI government, Guajardo said he had a five-year stint with the U.S. military. He joined the Customs Division in early 1991 initially as an administrative specialist handling personnel matters.

The following year, Guajardo began his law enforcement career when he was promoted to Customs officer II, which has an equivalent military rank of second lieutenant. He became a certified detector dog handler in 1997, touring the CNMI’s ports with police dogs to detect illegal drugs flowing through the islands’ borders.

A year after being promoted to the rank of Customs officer I, which has an equivalent military rank of first lieutenant, Guajardo went through an intensive 14-week training provided by the Australian Customs Service Detector Dog Program.

“I learned more about dog handling and I became the CNMI’s training coordinator,” he said.

Guajardo would train not only the Labradors but also their handlers, to create dog detector duos. It takes months of training for dogs to become police dogs.

The CNMI government started the detector dog program in 1999, but it became a Pacific leader when Guajardo, together with then Gov. Pedro Tenorio’s special assistant Mary Flanagan, asked the U.S. Department of the Interior to strengthen the program. Through federal grants, the CNMI put up kennel and training facilities and improved the capability of the islands’ detector dog units.

The effort resulted in recognition by the CNMI House of Representatives, which adopted a resolution acknowledging that the CNMI’s training center has become the leading dog detector training center in the Pacific. The House was led at that time by former Speaker Benigno Fitial, now the incumbent governor.

“By 2003, we were already providing assistance to Palau and American Samoa,” Guajardo said. He became the CNMI program’s manager in 2004.

Guajardo said that the Detector Dog Program has made significant contributions to the community, the effort of which resulted in the government’s seizures of illegal drugs worth millions of dollars. Besides serving as deterrent to illegal drug smuggling, the program also involves public awareness campaign on illegal drugs through school presentations and demonstrations.

Guajardo said detector dogs also help the Department of Public Safety and the Drug Enforcement Administration, particularly in the service of search warrants in drug cases. Firearms and explosives detector dogs also assist the U.S. Marshal in protecting federal infrastructure, including Saipan’s federal courthouse.

“The dogs have been a vital asset to the community,” Guajardo said. “I am thankful to the CNMI for the opportunity that I had in working in a specialized field of this kind.”

Although he recently retired from government service, Guajardo said he would like to continue providing assistance to the western Pacific region in terms of detector dog instructor and handler’s training.

“I have always believed that for a person to be a good handler, he must possess a love for animals. You have to like what you’re doing,” he said. “In my tenure with the Division of Customs Service, I am proud to have served the people of the Commonwealth.”