Pulaski County has decided to start anew with its K-9 unit.
The handling officer for the dog has decided to accept a job in another county. K-9 units are often used to locate drugs or missing persons, but training them requires quite a few resources.
What to do with the animal – which was considered Pulaski County property – was another matter. The County Commissioners could sell the K-9 to the handling officer or keep the dog and spend funds retraining it with a new deputy.
Sheriff Jeff Richwine says price had to first be considered.
“We came up with a price of $4-thousand,” says Richwine. “He agreed to pay that.”
The check will be written in the near future to the county. Those funds will be used to help acquire a new dog for the Sheriff’s Department. The cost for a new dog runs around $8-thousand. Tack on another $8-thousand for training.
Richwine says there are a few things the County needs to have back before everything is completed.
“He’s got a few leashes and stuff that he’s not turned in yet, and then the kennel,” says Richwine. “I’m just waiting until we make the decision for who the new officer will be so we don’t have to move it twice.”
A new K-9 officer will be named in the near future, according to the discussion.
The Pulaski County Commissioners approved selling the dog to the departing officer, unanimously.
