Most people know about police officer’s K-9 partners, but has anyone ever encountered a police lizard? According to a recent post from a local Summers County Sheriff’s Department lizards may be the future of law enforcement.
On April 1, anything goes and nothing can be trusted. Each year, the first day of April is celebrated as April Fools Day. While there is some debate as to the origins of the holiday, one thing is clear, it is a day of practical jokes, silliness and general tomfoolery. Many major brands and companies get in on the fun and post all manner of pranks to their social media accounts.
This year, the Summers County Sheriff’s Department got in on the fun by posting that they had a new team member, a narcotics detecting lizard named “Reptar.”
The post got a great deal of attention and reactions from the community. Sheriff Justin Faris said that the post was part of an ongoing effort to show the community that police officers are regular people by showing off their sense of humor.
Faris said he had wanted to post something along those lines with an animal that is not typically thought of as performing tasks such as drug detection. He said, however, that it was Chief Deputy T.S. Adkins that came up with the idea to use a lizard.
They even completed the post by adding a photo of a bearded dragon lizard wearing an orange vest.
While Reptar is pure imagination, is it possible that lizards may be the future of law enforcement? Bearded dragons are capable of learning and according to forums found on beardeddragon.org and information found on the site totalbeardeddragon.com, it is possible to train certain traits with a bearded dragon.
For example, according to these sites, these lizards often referred to as “beardys,” can be trained to come when called, drink from a water bowl and several other useful things.
Even though the Summers County Sheriff’s Department does not have a narcotics detecting lizard, the Summers County Public Library does have a bearded dragon. Their “beardy” is named Spyro and patrons can watch him hang out in his enclosure while searching for a book. For any Summers County residents that are disappointed to learn that there will not be a lizard patrolling with officers, head to the library and spend some time with Spyro.
