Little
With Edinburgh in the midst of a worsening drug problem, officials are considering adding a K9 to the police department for the first time since the 1980s.
The first police K9 Edinburgh had was with the department for several years in the 1980s. However, when the K9 and his partner left the department, the K9 was never replaced, leaving the department without its own K9 for the last three or so decades, said Doyne Little, police chief.
Instead, the department has relied on requesting a K9 from neighboring agencies. Edinburgh police often request K9 assistance from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office and Columbus Police. However, these K9s are not always available, or close by, Little said.
“I’ve been working a lot of night shifts lately, and I’ve called for K9s and there’s not one available, or (there’s) not one available that can get here in time,” Little said.
Little came before the town council on May 23 to explain the need for a K9 and to request permission to move forward with reestablishing Edinburgh’s K9 program and finding donations to help fund it.
The need for the program stems from the town’s problems with drug crime. Drug crime has been up and down for several years, but lately, it’s been a steady rise, Little told the council.
Having a K9 will be beneficial as the department deals with the drug problem. Since 2020, the town has had at least 76 drug arrests for methamphetamine, 27 for heroin, 23 for cocaine and 83 for marijuana. These numbers only include Johnson County arrests, Little said.
The town’s largest drug bust – which was more than 200 grams of an illegal narcotic from a felony traffic stop – would not have been possible without a K9 from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office in the area when the stop occurred, Little said.
“They were able to do that traffic stop and were able to get the drugs,” Little said. “We were able to get a lot of dope off the street that could potentially hurt our residents.”
Recent court decisions have made it more difficult for the department to just wait for a K9 from another agency. If an officer does a traffic stop and they suspect someone has drugs, they only have a reasonable amount of time — sometimes up to 10 minutes — to get a K9 there to conduct a search during the stop. If the officer issues a ticket and is done writing it before the K9 is there, then the officer will have to let them go, Little said.
The K9 could be used for not only narcotics but also for tracking and area searches. Without a K9 always available, the department has been unable to do locker searches at local schools — a program designed to keep kids honest that the department used to do, he said.
In terms of funding the program, some preliminary conversations have already been held about possible donations, with permission from the town council president and town manager Dan Cartwright. During these, a private donor offered $20,000 to help with the program. Other people have also offered money to help.
Columbus-based Cummins, Inc. has also spoken with Little about possibly allocating funds to help with the program beginning in 2023, he said.
“The dog can essentially be paid for,” Little told the council.
With the number of people willing to help restart the program, the main cost for the town would mainly be maintaining the dog, an estimated $5,000 to $7,000 a year. Little looked at departments of a similar size to determine how much money should be set aside, and based this estimate on how much money Whiteland sets aside for its police K9 program, which is $5,000, he said.
There would be some big expenses right away once the program gets off the ground, including the purchase of a K9, equipment for the K9, converting a police SUV to house the K9, and training the K9 and the K9’s officer. The training lasts for up to five to six weeks, so the town would be without an officer during that period, Little said.
Little also provided the town council with two quotes for nearby K9 providers. The first was for $19,255 for a Denver, Indiana-based company, and $16,000 for a Columbus-based company, he said.
Town council members were supportive of Little’s proposal Monday night. Council member Miriam Rooks said she agrees with the need, and asked how long it would take for the program to get off the ground.
Little told the council the next steps would likely be to work on the donations. Clerk-Treasurer Scott Finely said the town does not have a donations fund for the police department, meaning it could be put in the general fund if the town does receive donations.
Little wants to make sure the town gets enough donations to have a pad, in case the town needs additional funds for the program, he said.
With all this accounted for, the program would not be ready for a couple of months, Little said.
Council member Ryan Piercefield told the council that they should consider possibly having two K9s on two shifts down the road to help prevent one K9 from being overworked. Crime happens 24/7, he said.
“If we’re looking to truly get serious about stopping drugs in this community, it’s something we should probably consider,” Piercefield said.
Starting with one K9 and getting a second one in the future would be OK with Little, he told the council. He also said he will try to keep the program going for as long as he is chief.
“I’m going to get drugs off the street and I’m going to get those who are users help because that’s what they need,” Little said.
The town council gave Little a consensus to move forward with continuing conversations to get donations for the program. A formal resolution about the program will be introduced later at one of the council’s June meetings.
