City To End Drug Dog Program
By Jeff Gulley
Bruno, the Osawatomie Police Department’s drug dog, is moving to McPherson.
The Osawatomie City Council Thursday night gave City Manager Bret Glendening the go ahead to negotiate the relocation of the drug dog and discontinue the program.
Glendening told the council at the April 14 meeting that the officer trained to handle the dog was no longer with the department and the dog had two years of service time left. He told them at that time that another city was interested in trading the dog and the canine-equipped vehicle which had over 100,000 miles, for a patrol car with approximately 70,000 miles.
Thursday night, Glendening explained that the county had a drug dog program that the city could access.
“It may not always be available,” he said. “When we go on drug busts we could request it ahead of time. With our own program, officers could request the dog at a traffic stop if they had reason to be suspicious. We can’t hold a car long enough for the county to respond so traffic stops.”
He added that the dog was not used for traffic stops more than a few times a year.
The council looked at costs for the program that included training a new officer, the high mileage of the vehicle and cost for continued training and shelter for the dog before deciding to allow Glendening to move forward with discontinuing the program.
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Posted by admin
on May 4 2011. Filed under News and Updates.
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The city cut the police departments funding. Which is why they aren’t filling a sgts position as well, and overtime pay is gone as well. Which is why the city is going to go in the shitter since there is no opportunity for advancement for its officers. The level of give a shit is going to drop dramatically.