Virginia College Biloxi Instructor, Canine, Certified in Search and Rescue
Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Sheri Bowling, a lead instructor in both the Criminal Justice and Administrative Office Management programs at the Biloxi, Mississippi, campus of Virginia College, recently earned her Search and Rescue certification. And that certification included her dog, Malachi, as well. The process took a year and half of weekly and sometimes daily training with Malachi, but the pair may now deploy statewide when requested by law enforcement for both live search missions and human remains detection cases. Bowling and Malachi have already started the training process to gain national certification and eventually national USAR disaster certification with FEMA.
There is a strong connection to Bowling's certification and the Virginia College Criminal Justice program. A student brought to the class's attention the "cold case" of Ronald Duck from Pascagoula, Mississippi. Duck disappeared from the military base there in 1985. Brandon Taylor, who is now a Virginia College graduate working with the Harrison County Sheriff's Department, took a strong interest in this case and he and Bowling met with the missing man's family to learn more.
Virginia College Criminal Justice students joined Gulf Coast Search and Rescue in searching an area many believed might have been Duck's final resting place. They were not successful in locating the man's remains but did find more clues to the case. In the process, they also learned that there were not enough certified human remains detection dogs available on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
As a result, Bowling purchased Malachi as a four-month-old and joined GCSAR to begin training.
"We may not have made a huge difference in the Duck case," Bowling says, "but with Malachi's help, we will continue to fulfill the mission statement of GCSAR, which is 'working together to save lives.' Our students at Virginia College in Biloxi have embraced that mission with all their hearts."