On Being a Police Officer Ep. 76 From Local Policing to the California DOJ: Andre Lemay on Narcotics and Firearms Investigations and Creating K9 Bullseye Detection to Keep Schools Safer
Ep. 76 Andre Lemay’s law enforcement career spans 33 years starting in 1991 with the Pittsburg Police Department in the Bay Area of CA and later as special agent for the California Department of Justice, a role he had for 26.5 years.
We dive into his early critical incidents on patrol including his first life-or-death fight with a suspect who was not trying to get away, but who intended to do serious harm. Andre also talks about the harrowing experience of coming to the aid of fellow officers engaged in a shooting that nearly took their lives. He discusses achieving his dream assignment in Narcotics and the unique challenges of doing undercover work in the city in which he grew up.
In 1997, Andre joined a DOJ Task Force in CA while with Pittsburg PD and then in 1998, lateraled to the California DOJ as a special agent where he continued working in Narcotics. He later moved into the agency’s Bureau of Firearms where he investigated firearms crimes at the local, state, and federal levels. In 2011 he created a K9 firearms detection task force that sparked his passion for working with detection dogs. That passion became his next chapter following his retirement in 2024—founding K9 Bullseye Detection, a unique program that uses highly-trained firearms detection dogs for school safety including protection not only from gun violence but also from the spread of deadly drugs like fentanyl.
Andre reflects on the changes he has seen over the past 30+ years in terms of how drugs and illegal firearms ownership and sales are prosecuted, and we discuss the impact of policies that decriminalize drug use on law enforcement’s ability to get dangerous criminals off the street.
Check out Andre’s website where you also can find his contact info:
https://bullseyek9detection.net/
Andre’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-lemay-049257270/
Bullseye K9 Detection on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bullseyek9detection/
Also check out this article in Police Mag:
https://www.policemag.com/special-units/article/15736766/innovating-school-security
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©Abby Ellsworth. All booking, interviews, editing, and production by Abby Ellsworth. Music courtesy of freesound.org