Trumbull County Sheriff's Office training 2 new K9 officers
TRUMBULL CO., Ohio (WKBN) — The Trumbull County Sheriff's Office will soon be adding not one but two new K9 officers to its team thanks to a generous donation to the law enforcement agency.
Deputy James Lewis met his new K9 partner Rio for the first time Monday.
'I'm really excited to meet him and hopefully he likes me,' said Deputy Lewis. It's the first day Lewis and Rio started their training alongside Deputy Mike Nelson and his new partner K9 Rex.
'I've always wanted to try this opportunity so I'm glad it's finally happening,' Deputy Nelson said.
Thanks to Alpha Pack K9 and the nonprofit Fur Missile K9 Foundation, the K9s and their training were donated to the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office.
'It's a great asset to have and a lot of departments don't have the funding to be able to purchase these K9s. One dog costs roughly $18,500 just for the dog and the training,' said Jennifer Dobbins with Alpha Pack K9.
'With the budget constraints that we have and being able to get donations for a complete two dogs and all the equipment that they need and all the training it's huge and we wouldn't have been able to pull this off without them,' said Trumbull County Sheriff Mike Wilson.
Both officers will eventually be dual-purpose K9s trained in tracking, detecting narcotics and suspect apprehension.
'It's a huge asset to the department to be able to locate people, apprehend suspects and remove those illegal substances from the roadway,' said Timothy Dobbins with Apha Pack K9.
The K9s and their handlers will undergo at least a month of training before joining K9 Lincoln and his handler Deputy Andre Jarrette on patrol.
'We want to fight the opiate and fentanyl epidemic and what better way than to have two more dogs in Trumbull County,' Wilson said.
Sheriff Wilson says the goal is to have one K9 on every shift and to grow the unit to four or five teams.
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