Synthetic marijuana found in Elkhart County Correctional Complex

ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. -

It's supposed to be a secure building to house Elkhart County offenders. Friday morning, drugs were sniffed out in the Elkhart County Correctional Complex. 

After a sweep of one of the housing units, officials found contraband.

One of the drugs found was synthetic marijuana. 

This isn't the first time this has been a problem for the jail. But thankfully, there's an officer with the nose to sniff it out.

ABC57 News met that officer, Nitro, and his handler Tim Lechlitner.  

Nitro is one of the three K9s working with the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department, and they play a critical role in maintaining jail security.

"We don't always have a K9 here. Our goal is to always have a K9 here," explains Lechlitner. "If there's not a K9 here to search, sometimes people will try to hide stuff in body cavities. And the dogs will smell that. We, when we're doing a pat down search, can't feel that."

These K9s will search visitors and inmates everyday. 

But officials say they need more dogs to keep up.

"Right now, we're short one K9 in the jail. We do have three currently, and we need one more so we have on on each team," explains Lechlitner.