One year ago, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI), the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) announced a new collaborative initiative to combat fentanyl in Kansas called the Joint Fentanyl Impact Team (JFIT).

Part of this team is a K-9 unit, which just celebrated its first full year in operation.

KBI recognized all five K9 officers and their handlers for their first year in service, giving each special badges for their work, according to an article on MSN.com.

The importance of this team cannot be underestimated, KBI Director Tony Mattivi told the media outlet. “Fentanyl deaths right now are the No. 1 cause of death of Americans under 40,” says Mattivi.

Mattivi also told the media outlet that the dogs’ ability to detect and find fentanyl has been crucial in upholding safety across the state.

“Without dogs that are trained to detect just fentanyl we would be missing all of those packages and that’s a huge amount of fentanyl that’s going on the streets in Kansas and a huge number of deaths, so these dogs save lives every single day,” he told MSN.com.

Mattivi added the program has been so successful that it is being used to train other K9 divisions across the state.

The five dogs were the first fentanyl-detecting K-9 officers in Kansas, according to an earlier KBI press release about the program.

The dogs work closely with the narcotics team to interrupt all methods of fentanyl movement into Kansas. This includes intercepting drugs coming into the state through the mail, on the roadways and railways, and flown in by air.

At the time of its formation, Mattivi said, “It is our hope that these targeted enforcement efforts reduce the growing number of fentanyl deaths, but we must recognize that we won’t be able to enforce our way out of this crisis.”

He added in the press release that “to make real progress, we must increase awareness about how lethal fentanyl is, and how any street drug or pill can contain this poison.”