Camden's First Female K9 Handling Officer Hopes To Inspire Young Women

By Rahel Solomon

CAMDEN, NJ. (CBS) -- Camden County Police now has its first female officer handling canines in the city's history. Officer Gabrielle Camacho has worked as a Camden County Police officer for more than two years and is currently in the K9 Academy. She'll now be joined everyday by Peyton, a Golden Labrador.

"They're way more smarter, they smell better, see things better than any human." Officer Camacho told Eyewitness News.

Peyton is being trained in narcotics detection, but will also be used for community outreach including in grade schools.

Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson said the department has struggled with recruiting and retaining female police officers in the past. According to a spokesman, of the department's 372 officers, 46 are female. The department also has eight canines, which will now be outfitted with protective body armor dog vests thanks to a donation from the Associated Humane Societies of New Jersey.

"Just like we want our human officers protected in the field, the canine officers are not only helping them do their jobs, protecting them, protecting citizens, it's extremely important that they're protected too, I mean they're officers, their lives are valued," said Scott Crawford of the Associated Humane Societies of New Jersey.

"The one thing with canines is that you never get a bad day out of them, they never tell you no and they're going to go anywhere we tell them to go so the least we can do is give them that extra layer of protection," Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson.

Officer Camacho tells Eyewitness News, she's hopes Camden neighbors look at her and Peyton and see that they're approachable, but she also wants young girls to see more, saying "I hope to inspire little girls that you can do whatever you want to do."