By DAVID TELLER
Staff Reporter
The Cheney Police Department will have a new, albeit mournful, depressed-looking face on patrol.
“April,” a 16-week-old bloodhound, will be arriving Aug. 28 from the Newberry County Sheriff's Office in South Carolina.
Chief Jeff Sale said he knows Newberry County Sheriff, James Lee Foster. The two sit on a national advisory board for the Rural Law Enforcement Technology Center (RULETC). Sale said they began talking about the new advances in law enforcement technology when the topic of old technology, like police dogs, came up. Sale said Foster offered a bloodhound.
Though German shepherds are more common among working police dogs, Sale said he chose a less aggressive breed because of the college community in Cheney. He was primarily concerned about liability issues.
“I did not want an aggressive dog,” Sale said.
Bloodhounds are human trackers, and are not attack dogs. According to dogbreedinfo.com, this type of dog is considered gentle and affectionate. The American Bloodhound Club claims the breed has the keenest sense of smell of all of the tracking breeds.
The purpose of Cheney getting a tracking dog is two-fold. Sale said that a majority of the property crimes in Cheney, like break-ins, burglary and vehicle prowls, are committed by a lot of the same people.
With a tracking dog, Sale said the perpetrator can be tracked from the scene, which would reduce the number of steps required to catch someone. Catching a vehicle prowler takes a long period time because the crime is infrequent and rarely does anyone see or hear anything.
Sale said the dog could also help locate lost children, elderly patients that left their residence, or teenagers that simply do not want to be found.
The other purpose of a tracking dog is to reciprocate for similar past help. Sale said the Spokane County Sheriff's Office has helped his department on numerous occasions, so he is willing to reciprocate the good will.
“She'll be an asset for the county,” Sale said, adding that the dog Cheney is getting is only the third bloodhound to join a police department in Washington state.
Though the dog was donated, getting her to Cheney will cost the city about $2,000. Sale said this is not an impetuous decision. He said it's a project he has been working on for about two years.
Officer Zeb Campbell has been selected to be the department's dog handler. He and “April” will attend about nine months of training before they are ready to tackle their first assignment. Sale said funding for the training, which hovers in the $5,000 range, comes via a grant, plus private donors. Sale said donations came from Defender Development, Farmer's Insurance and Cheney resident Graeme Webster.
After “April” arrives, Sale said the department would probably hold a “name the dog” contest with the community.
David Teller can be reached at [email protected]
Reader Comments(0)