North Greenville welcomes canine unit on campus
Travis Willmann, Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of Travis Willmann
This past fall, North Greenville University’s campus security added a new team member to its arsenal, a six-year-old German shepherd named Stoki. Stoki and his handler, Officer William Farina, have been working together for almost five years.
Why does North Greenville, a Christian university, need a canine that is trained to hunt down illegal drugs? Farina explained, “Drugs are on every campus and this campus is no different.” Farina went on to say that Stoki is not just here to locate drugs, but also to protect the students from an active shooter. “Stoki is what we call a dual-purpose police dog,” explainedFarina.
Farina explained that Stoki can detect the four basic types of drugs: marijuana, heroine, methamphetamine and cocaine based drugs.
Photo courtesy of Travis Willmann.
Farina explained that Stoki is a very calm dog, but when he detects a threat either to his handler, himself or others, his demeanor changes and he goes into defense mode. Stoki is also really good about not growling or barking, but can become very aggressive once he detects a threat.
Stoki is not only trained to be a police dog in South Carolina, but also is nationally recognized across the country by the North American Police Work Dog Association, which is the highest certification of training a work dog can achieve. “Stoki can work in any state and in any situation,” saidFarina. Along with suspect apprehension and drug detection, Stoki is trained to search buildings and let his handler, Farina, know that a building is secure.
Stoki is a calm dog, but Farina asked that students do not pet him as he is trained to detect quick movements and can get aggressive very quickly. However, Farina encourages students to come and say hello to Stoki as he is very eager to meet all of the student body.
Stoki’s favorite food is Blue Buffalo and he eats a lot because he is a high drive German Shepherd. Stoki is from Germany. “German shepherds from Germany are bred differently,” said Farina. “They are bred with other German Shepherds that have some Belgium Shepherd in them,” he explained. This gives the German Shepherds another level of intelligence than German Shepherds bred in the United States.
Farina is also very excited to be a part of the North Greenville family and looks forward to meeting each and every student at North Greenville.
