To Slobber and Protect: Bomb-Sniffing Dogs Kept an Election Safe

Now Rooney, an 8-year-old German shepherd with a knack for sniffing out explosives, has been honored for his heroics alongside 28 of his canine counterparts. The pack of law enforcement dogs rushed to polling places across New Jersey on Election Day after a wave of bomb threats, sweeping the sites so efficiently that they were rarely closed for longer than 30 minutes.

For their efforts, the dogs received Selfless Service awards from the New Jersey attorney general’s office at a ceremony on Thursday at the Trenton War Memorial.

“The threats were addressed swiftly, quickly,” Matthew J. Platkin, the attorney general of New Jersey, declared before the dogs were brought onstage one by one to receive their awards. “It was remarkable service by our law enforcement across the state and by our four-legged partners in combating crime.”

Rooney, who was born in Hungary before arriving in Florida and then New Jersey, was the only dog made available for an interview with a New York Times reporter, alongside his partner, Sgt. Matthew Broderick of the Toms River Police Department. Rooney was chatty but interruptive, and spent much of the time howling.


https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/us/politics/bomb-sniffing-dogs-new-jersey-election.html