Springfield police consider K-9
Toolbox
By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff - Published: January 11, 2007
SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Police Chief Douglas Johnston wants to put the bark — if not the bite — back in law enforcement.
Johnston has proposed that the town spend close to $3,000 to get a police dog, but the initial reaction so far isn't encouraging from the Select Board.
Johnston said it's been about five years since the Springfield Police Department had a K-9 unit, which is made up of the dog and its police handler.
But the police chief said he believed it was a valuable tool in law enforcement.
"We have some people who would be interested in it," he said, noting that often people will donate a dog that could be trained to be a police dog, which is traditionally used in drug enforcement work or patrol work, such as tracking and searching.
Having a tracking dog is invaluable when a child goes missing, Johnston said, noting that the Vermont State Police don't have as many K-9 units as they used to — with the closest being in Brattleboro.
"It's very beneficial in locating missing children. It's very helpful," he said.
Johnston said the $3,000 he proposed for the dog was basically a "bare bones" budget, and that the cost of the dog, its upkeep and its training would probably be more.
"If we can't get funding through the town, I'm going to ask for permission to find alternative funding," the chief said.
The dog would live with the officer to maintain the strong bond needed for such work.
"It would enhance our enforcement efforts. But life would go on without it. We would do a better job with it," he said. "The benefit would outweigh the cost."
Bob Ryan, the K-9 instructor of the Vermont Police Academy in Pittsford, said that there are 29 police dogs in the state, with most of them in the small towns.
Ryan said that the vast majority of the police dogs are German shepherds, but there are Labrador retrievers and Belgian malinois shepherds, that closely resemble a German shepherd.
German shepherds are so popular, he said, because they adapt well to the Vermont climate and they are a working dog breed.
Police dogs need to have "a really high ball drive," Ryan said. They love to chase balls and won't give up easily if they can't find the ball quickly.
"If they give up after 30 seconds or a minute, their drive isn't high enough," Ryan said, noting that good police dog candidates are still searching for the ball after four or five minutes.
The dogs also need to have a high "prey drive."
"All dogs have it. … It's a natural drive to go out and catch animals to survive," he said. The dog's agility and ability to jump in and out of cars and crawl under desks is also important.
"And they need to have good personalities. A lot go to the schools and do demonstrations, so we don't want a vicious dog out there at the schools," he said.
Ryan said the state police have retired several dogs in the past couple of years, but would be adding four dogs this year.
Ryan, a veteran of the Barre City Police Department, said the dogs and their officer handlers undergo extensive training, and also have to be certified annually.
Ryan said the typical dog eats as much as $50 of food in a month, and normal veterinarian bills for vaccinations are between $200 and $300 a year. "As long as they don't get injured," that's the minimum costs, he said.
Training at the police academy adds substantial costs. The drug school for dog and handler is six weeks long, and the patrol school starts out two days a week for four weeks, followed by 12 weeks of fulltime work. "It's pretty intense," Ryan said.
"We try and make it fun for the dogs," he said of the school.
He said the patrol dog can be trained to do searches to look for whoever broke into a building. "He bites the person who is hiding," he said.
Picking the handler is important too, he said, and they must be physically fit. Not all departments have physical fitness standards, he said.
Someone who is even-tempered and "truly cares about their dog," are important attributes, he said.
"They have to do a lot of running and jumping and running through obstacle courses," he said.
Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com.
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