Canine Units are pricey for a police department, and Hanford PD received a $1,500 donation from the Kings and Sequoia Kennel Club to go toward their k-9 program.
Donations received by the K-9 Unit are used to purchase needed equipment, assist with any medical costs and to help expand the Hanford Police Department K-9 Unit with additional canines.
“We really have one dog currently which is a narcotics detection canine only, which is a Springer Spaniel, and the reason we got that dog was he was donated along with all that equipment.” – Officer Jeremy Ricks, K-9 Handler.
“Dodger” is their 3-year old drug sniffer dog – as old as their k-9 program.
“But he’s only a drug dog, he’s not trained to do apprehension – that’s a nice way of saying ‘bite dog’ – he doesn’t chase after bad guys, he’s just strictly for sniffing and detection of narcotics.
Officer Ricks says Hanford PD hopes to raise money to cover the cost of two additional apprehension dogs and their equipment, and medical bills.
The dogs they use for this are special breeds with a lot of testing.
Officer Ricks says those dogs would be a Belgium Malinois or German Shepherd.
About $60,000 dollars would cover the costs of the dogs and their training.
He says the goal could be to have four dogs, two on each shift to protect Hanford.
The Kings and Sequoia Kennel Club’s derive their support from the AKC Sanctioned dog show held each year at the Kings County Fair Grounds in Hanford,
The KSKC provides two scholarships to U.C. Davis Vet School, donations to SPCA, both the Kings County & Tulare County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Unit and now this year to the Hanford PD’s K-9 Unit.
See Dodger on Facebook: Friends of the Hanford Police K-9 Unit.
