BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — It's one of the biggest buildings in the metro – the Mall of America.
"Mall of America has about 32 million annual visitors every year," Will Bernhjelm, VP of security at the mall, said. "We're at 5.6 million-square-feet; we're an iconic international tourist destination."
With a footprint of that size, security at the mall is top of mind. To keep patrons and stores safe, it would be easy to hire more officers.
But the smart thing was to hire this specific one.
"I would say it's pretty groundbreaking," MOA Canine Lieutenant Kenny McDonough said.
MOA now has K-9 officers patrolling the storefronts. That in itself isn't new – they've used explosion-detecting dogs in the past.
What's different, is what they can smell.
"Handgun, revolver, semi-automatic rifle, shotgun, shotgun shells... basically any kind of component of a firearm," McDonough said. "They're always pushing us to figure out new ways to accomplish the mission, and when that mission changes, we need to find a new way to do it."
McDonough was accompanied Wednesday by Ellie, one of eight dogs the mall is hoping to have fully in place by June. Eight may seem like a small number when you look at how many people the mall sees per year, but Bernhjelm says they're actually well covered.
"Rochester, for example, has eight for the entire city with Mayo Clinic," he said. "We have eight in this building alone."
These dogs are a necessary tool for officers to keep people safe – an important piece of what they do, as shootings at the mall are still fresh in some minds.
"The dogs are trained to, even in groups of large people, they're trained to pinpoint down to the actual person where that odor is coming from," McDonough said.
It's a small number with a big job, with plans to stay busy keeping millions of people safe.
"It's nice to be the first and to try and push forward with what the dogs are capable of," McDonough said.
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