Town officials on Monday night voted unanimously to allow the New Canaan Police Department to start fundraising for a second K-9 dog.
Some $75,000 must be raised to acquire the new dog, possibly a Labrador retriever, that focus on narcotics detection as well as the tracking of missing people, Chief Leon Krolikowski and Officer Shane Gibson told members of the Police Commission at their regular meeting.
The current K-9 dog, Apollo the German shepherd, performs those tasks as well as patrol and apprehension, they said. A second dog would be used for more community relations—such as demonstrations at schools, churches and events—and would work on a different shift from Apollo and his handler, K-9 Officer David Rivera, they said.
Gibson said he understood that Apollo is the department’s priority and “I am more than willing to try to raise the funds and put myself out there to get the money for this second dog.”
“And primarily what the second dog would be narcotics and tracking,” he said during the meeting, held at NCPD headquarters. “The majority of cases I think it would be useful for is going for missing persons. We have had multiple missing persons on primarily the 3-to-11 [p.m.] shift — either a child or elderly adult that went missing—and when that happens, time is of the essence. If we have that dog available on the shift now and then, we get a better opportunity to locate that person safely.”
The department had formally raised the possibility of acquiring a second K-9 dog two years ago.
Commissioners Paul Foley, Jim McLaughlin and Sperry DeCew, the volunteer group’s chairman, asked whether all expenses associated with the existing and future K-9 unit are privately supported (yes, the K-9 vehicle, gas, maintenance, veterinary care and food all are paid either out of a donor fund or donated directly—see below), whether the $75,000 figure is realistic (yes, there’s already a $20,000 commitment), how much it costs each year to support a dog (about $10,000), whether the fund is replenished on its own by donors (yes, money comes into it regularly from the community and it’s “healthy”) and whether the vehicle itself is the major expense (yes).
DeCew questioned whether the second dog was necessary, citing statistics from last year related to Apollo, that he had performed nine searches, 12 demonstrations and six trainings.
“I don’t know why a second dog would be required under those circumstances,” DeCew said. “Quite honestly, we are barely using the first one.”
Krolikowski noted that Apollo was “offline” for a period where he wasn’t used and that a K-9 unit is a major deterrent for criminals.
The statistics that DeCew cited are measurements but “that is not everything that it does,” the chief said.
The dog “daily interacts with dozens of people—it’s a huge public relations win for us and if we can do it without taxpayer money, that is huge for the force.”
Foley said he thought the town should support the K-9 program, and noted that Apollo accompanies Rivera on routine patrol and recently helped turn up a significant amount of marijuana in one stopped car.
Pet Pantry on Grove Street and the New Canaan Veterinary Hospital on Vitti Street supply (dog food) and serve (physical upkeep) the NCPD’s K-9 dog, pro bono, respectively. New Canaan Veterinary Hospital, in fact, has provided care for three NCPD K-9 dogs in recent years, and also cared for a police dog that served the community more than 25 years ago.
Police have said Darien and Wilton each have one K-9 dog, Westport and Fairfield two and five each in Norwalk and Stamford.
Gibson said the first step in fundraising would involve a direct mailer, which was successful about 10 years ago in kickstarting the K-9 fund that supports Apollo. Allocating the money from the established fund would require support from the Board of Selectmen.