New Whiteland Officer Cody Robertson and K-9 JJ held a demonstration for the New Whiteland City Council on April 5. The council approved adding JJ to the police department.
Emily Ketterer Daily Journal
The New Whiteland Police Department is restarting its K-9 program at a fraction of the cost.
New Whiteland Police Officer Cody Robertson, who came from the Southport Police Department, started with the department in January. There, was a K-9 handler and when he left, his dog JJ came with him.
New Whiteland compared the K-9 program to starting from scratch and offered to add JJ to the police force. The city can rent it for $1 a year plus about $700 more for insurance and vet visits.
K-9s are typically traded between departments when their handlers move on to new jobs because it can be difficult to assign a new handler when a dog has a relationship with the original handler.
JJ and Robertson passed the required training, and follow-up training is free for the rest of JJ’s life, Robertson said.
Robertson and Police Chief Joe Rynerson made a presentation to the New Whiteland City Council last week to add a K-9 to the city’s police department. Rynerson said New Whiteland hasn’t had a K-9 in years.
“We’re asking for your approval, because it’s costing us almost peanuts to get the dog to begin with,” Rynerson said.
In his presentation, Robertson outlined the benefits K-9s can add to police departments. He said K-9s help a lot in catching drug traffic, and if they know a K-9 is on the job, it can help keep criminals from running drugs in the city.
“I’ve had a lot of aggressive vandals who’ve been shot, shot, sprayed with O.C., saying they’re going to take all that again, but they don’t want to mess with the dogs,” Robertson said. “When the dog lives, there is a psychological problem.”
K-9s are helpful in searching for missing persons, and help build relationships with other police departments that need K-9 assistance, Robertson said. Robertson added that K-9s are a great way to bond with the community because citizens love interacting with police dogs.
As part of the event, Roberston brought his 5-year-old German Shepherd, JJ, to perform a drug-detection demonstration. He brought JJ to four boxes, and JJ had to find the box with the “target scent”, which he successfully did.
In general, the cost of getting a new K-9 is between $27,000 and $30,000, Robertson and Rynerson say, so that’s a deal for a New Whiteland to earn roughly $700 a year. A vehicle should be outfitted for a K-9 kennel, which Robertson said he already takes care of with a gift. The VFW of New Whiteland said it plans to donate the car kennel once the K-9 program is gone.
One of the new vehicles the police department just purchased is a K-9 outfit, Rynerson said.
Council members did not oppose the idea of adding K-9s to the police force. They voted 4-0 to approve the process to add JJ to the department and to outfit a car.