City Council reinstates police K9 program

BARSTOW • The Barstow Police Department is one step closer to restarting its police service canine program.
The Barstow City Council voted unanimously Monday to approve the department’s canine program as well as the additional funding it would require.

The department has not had a canine program since 2002, according to Lt. Albert Ramirez, who served as a dog handler from 1993 to 1998. Ramirez said he was not aware of why the program had been discontinued in 2002. He said the department believes that using dogs will increase drug arrests and suspect apprehension.

“Dogs are able to find things that human beings aren’t,” Ramirez said. “It can be drugs that are hidden or at night when we’re chasing someone and we can’t see, but the dog can use his smell. They can help us do building and area checks faster because they cover more ground and put officers in harms way less often.”

The program will cost the city an extra $13,320 a year in incentive pay for the four officers that become dog handlers. Lt. Albert Ramirez said the extra pay is required by the Fair Labor Standards Act and is to cover the time officers spend caring for the dogs when they are not on duty.

Although the city will spend extra money on the program, the bulk of the funding, $56,000, for training and caring for the dogs will come from grants. The dogs themselves are being adopted from Lackland Air Force Base in Texas at no cost to the department. Ramirez said it would cost the department more than $35,000 to purchase four dogs, either German Shepherds or Belgian Malinois, with the obedience training the dogs will have initially.

Chief Dianne Burns and Ramirez discovered the service dog adoption program at a police chief’s conference in October, according to Ramirez.

“I’ve been working on getting the program back for years,” Ramirez said. “Then we were at the conference and another chief was telling us about the adoption program. Everything worked out and now we just have to get set up and then we’ll drive down and bring back the dogs.”

Getting the dogs to Barstow is just the start of the program for the future dog handlers, who have yet to be selected. Ramirez said the dogs and handlers will participate in a five-week patrol training program followed by a five-week narcotics training program. The handlers’ patrol cars will be modified to accommodate the dogs around the same time period. The dogs will even live with their handlers.

Ramirez said despite the extra work he enjoyed working with his dog, Arco.

“I think that was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in law enforcement,” Ramirez said. “My dog was just like a member of the family. I took care of him and when we were in the field he made me look good plenty of times.”

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(760) 256-4126 or dheldreth@desertdispatch.com