BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Cpl. Kirk Geweniger with Brevard County Sheriff’s Office wants parents to beware that some students are finding craftier ways to smoke and bring vape pens to school, with some students even putting THC and cannabis oils in them.

• Students are finding ways to bring vape pens to school, says BCSO
• Authorities use Brevard K9 'Sonic' to detect vape pens
• Use of smokeless tech among students on the rise, says Brevard Public Schools

But one friendly K9 is using his nose to tackle the growing problem.

The school district says the smoking of regular tobacco is down, but the use of smokeless technology is on the rise because more kids are carrying it and getting caught.

According to the Brevard Public Schools statistics, for the 2017-18 school year vaping, e-cigarettes, and other smokeless technology, including regular tobacco, resulted in 329 tobacco suspensions and 169 drug possession suspensions.

Geweniger and 3-year-old K9 ‘Sonic’ roam schools detecting the scent and alerting his handler when something is found.

The new numbers for the 2018-2019 first quarter is 206 tobacco suspensions, along with 68 drug suspensions.

Sonic visits different schools and is a K9 students can pet while he's on duty. Sonic is very friendly but is always working, especially for his favorite reward, which is a tennis ball.

Geweniger explained that vapes are being manufactured in very creative ways to conceal easier like an everyday item such as USB. Many look like regular pens or have a flat-sleek look to resemble cell phones.

Sonic is trained to sniff out certain odors even when students try to conceal the smell with air fresheners or hidden in containers.

“He's always working, it looks like he's being just a dog, but when he detects something he will either sit or bark,” he explained.

While on patrol Sonic is looking for traces of these odors in lockers, cars, purses, backpacks, and people. Most of the time while at Brevard schools, Sonic is greeted with joy, but it's the students that are not to please or quickly walk away that Geweniger watches out. He says most of the times, those are the students hiding something.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, nationwide in 2018, one in five high-schoolers are using e-cigs, along with one in 20 in middle school. Originally, vapes and e-cigs were intended as an alternative for adults to quit smoking but gained popularity amongst youth.

Brevard County law enforcement is hoping students will use an anonymous tip line P3 Campus to report other students vaping while at school.