2 police dogs get council funding

LAFAYETTE — The Police Department will spend more than $27,000 in emergency funds to replace two retiring police dogs, Police Chief Jim Craft said Thursday.

The City-Parish Council approved an emergency ordinance Tuesday that authorized the transfer of $37,325 from the State Seized/Forfeited Property account, the Justice Federal Forfeited Property Account and an account intended to purchase a software program that is no longer needed, Craft said.

The police chief said Harley, one of the police dogs, is retiring after 11 years of service, which is about three to four years longer than an average police dog.

“Harley is at the end of his career and can no longer physically respond to the duties required,” Craft wrote in an email Thursday.

A second dog, Billy, suffered “career-ending” stress fractures to his front legs during a training exercise, Craft said, adding the dog had four years of service.

The dogs will either be adopted by their handlers or by private citizens, the police chief said said.

The replacement dogs are expected to cost between $25,000 and $27,000, the chief said.

The remaining funds will serve as an emergency replacement fund for other dogs injured or forced to retire, he said.

Delivery of the first dog will be in about 2 weeks, Craft said, adding the second dog has not yet been selected.

Before a dog and handler are put into service, they must first pass a four-week handler’s course and become certified in patrol work and narcotics work, the police chief said.

The department has a total of seven dogs, all of which are either shepherds, Malinois or a mixture of the two breeds, the chief said.

“The cost of the dogs may seem high to an outsider, however, the type of breeding stock they come from has a long history of service work for military and law enforcement duties,” he wrote.

“They are not your typical house pet,” Craft continued. “They are also more expensive because they are multi-purpose dogs specially trained to perform a number of different duties such as narcotics detection, criminal apprehension, scent work (missing persons) and article (evidence) searches. These searches can take place in large interior areas as well as large areas of the outdoors.”

A dog’s performance ability can cause their values to differ by several hundred or several thousand dollars, he said.

A good team of one handler and a dog can perform the work of two to four officers “thus resulting in a very cost-effective use of funds,” Craft said.