KINGSPORT, Tenn. – Sullivan County law enforcement officers “found” a bag of marijuana in Sheriff Wayne Anderson’s car Tuesday morning while it was parked in front of the North Eastman Road Food City. The drugs were planted there by one of Anderson’s fellow officers as part of a demonstration marking the retirement of two of the county’s K-9 unit dogs – and a grant to help replace them.
“This is the most high-tech piece of equipment that we have,” Anderson said of the dogs, which are trained by their handlers to detect explosives, marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine.
The dogs also are used to track missing children and fleeing suspects. They can place someone under arrest by biting the person’s wrist and not letting go.
“This is a game to them,” said Deputy Melissa Marlowe, who handles K-9 C.J., one of the dogs set to retire this month.
“They find what they need,” she said, bouncing a tennis ball into C.J.’s mouth to reward him for finding some fake bomb materials at the demonstration. “They alert us and they get a treat.”
C.J. has been with the Sheriff’s Office since 1999. K-9 Serge, a tracking dog that also will retire this month, has been there since 2002. Both animals will finish out their lives with the officers who handled them, said Deputy Mark Baird.
“We often spend more time with these dogs than we do our families,” said Baird, who has handled two dogs in the 10 years he has been with the K-9 Unit.
Baird said the unit’s dogs are technically owned by the Sheriff’s Office but live at their handlers’ homes. The county supplies each handler with the equipment needed to care for the animals, he said.
Officers in the K-9 Unit will start training the two dogs that will replace C.J. and Serge on Nov. 1. The process takes 12 to 14 weeks, Anderson said.
The two new dogs will cost the county $9,000, said county Purchasing Director Nelda Fleenor. More than half this cost will be paid through a $5,000 grant from Food City and the Milk-Bone Canine Heroes Program.
Mark Berlacher, a representative from Milk-Bone’s parent company Del Monte Foods, said the Canine Heroes Program has helped law enforcement agencies across the United States buy more than 450 dogs in the past 10 years.
“We understand the importance of the K-9 group in law enforcement,” said Jerry Lewis, who is with Food City’s parent company K-VAT Food Stores.
gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518
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