Mohegan — The Mohegan Tribal Police Department last Friday tripled its force of explosives detection dogs as two new K-9 teams graduated from the state training academy.

On Wednesday, Tribal Council Chairman Kevin Brown said approving the department’s request for the teams was a no-brainer, given “what’s going on in the world today.”

“It’s incumbent upon us as responsible business owners to take all the prudent and necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of our guests,” Brown said, referring to patrons of Mohegan Sun.

Brown and tribal police Chief Jeffrey Hotsky expect the new teams to bring many benefits to the department and the casino's patrons.

“With just the sheer size of the venue and the areas that need to be searched ... having multiple dogs makes it a lot easier,” Hotsky said.

In the past, Mohegan police would bring in state police K-9 teams for big events, such as concerts or the Barrett-Jackson car auction that took place this summer, so sweeps of the premises could happen in a timely matter.

In the event of an emergency of mass proportions, they also would’ve had to wait for state K-9s to arrive, Brown said. Having the K-9 teams on site, he said, considerably should reduce response time.

On top of that, he said, having the dogs on patrol not only makes people feel more comfortable, it also allows the department to be proactive.

“We’re sending a strong signal that we’re not kidding to anyone who may have any ill actions in mind,” Brown said.

Hotsky said he hopes in the upcoming fiscal year to be approved for one final K-9 team, so their shifts can overlap from time to time and no one dog experiences too much pressure.

Right now, the force includes Sgt. Steve Rief and K-9 Lucky, Officer Armand Sylvestre and K-9 Felix, and Officer Joseph Morelli and K-9 Topper.

Rief and Lucky had worked in the state police Emergency Services Unit before retiring last year, Hotsky said. Because they had only been retired a couple months, he explained, state police quickly re-certified Rief and Lucky when they joined Mohegan police in November last year.

Morelli also was a K-9 handler and unit instructor with state police before retiring and heading to the tribal department, according to state police. He was hired in June last year.

Sylvestre, Hotsky said, has been with the department for almost seven years.

Hotsky said police in May purchased Felix and Topper, both Labradors, from Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a New York-based nonprofit that supplies state police with specialty K-9s.

According to Brown, the cost of doing so, which he didn’t specify, was never an issue for the council.

“If we were to have an unguarded package on the (casino) floor that required a quarantine and potentially an evacuation of the entire casino, just avoiding 30 minutes of that makes having the dogs worthwhile,” he said.

l.boyle@theday.com