A K9 is coming

Ashley Hunter
ECB Publishing, Inc.

The venture started in 2016 when Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO)'s Trevor Boland went to Sheriff David Hobbs and expressed his interest in being a K9 officer in the future, should the position become available.
At that time, the JCSO currently had a K9 and handler, but the handler ended up leaving the department, and the dog was retired, meaning the JCSO no longer had a K9 in their agency.
“When I first got here, I noticed that we did not have a K9,” said Sheriff McNeill, who was appointed Sheriff by Gov. Scott last year. “We were requesting K9 assistance to do sweeps at the school; sometimes our guys would make stops on the interstate and they would request FHP to bring a K9. And we would work closely with Madison and Taylor, who all had K9’s.”
This cooperation with surrounding agencies worked well for the JCSO, but was far from ideal. Relying on other agencies for a K9 did not always
mean that the JCSO would have access to a K9 when they needed one.
“I felt like we were getting the assistance we needed from the surrounding agencies, but I would prefer to have our own,” said McNeill.
When McNeill came to the agency, Boland readdressed his interest in being a K9 handler, especially since the JCSO no longer had one. Before Boland came to him, McNeill had already looked into the budget to see if the agency had the funds required to invest into a K9, but there was no allowance that could be made to squeeze in the up-front costs of obtaining a K9 and training a handler.
“K9s aren't cheap. By the time you purchase the dog and get the training...even the upkeep of the dog, the medical and feeding of the dog and the hours that the officer has to devout just to caring for the dog, they can be quite expensive,” said McNeill.
As Boland expressed his interest in becoming a K9 handler, McNeill encouraged his interest, and suggested Boland try and find ways to lessen the financial strain of starting up the K9 venture at the JCSO.
“I called a few other agencies, and asked how they got their first dog,” said Boland, who found that some other agencies had received their first dog through donations from the community. “I found that to be a pretty good idea, so I brought it forth to the Sheriff.”
The idea was supported by McNeill, so Boland went out and sought donations.
“Boland went out, on his own, and made contact with people in the community and raised the money to obtain the dog,” said McNeill.
By making contact with local business and plantation owners in pursuit of obtaining donating funds that would go towards the initial start-up price of obtaining a dog for the department, Boland managed to raise enough funds and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office will once more have a K9 and handler within the agency.
“Anytime we have an issue at the school or we need to do random sweeps, we have the K9. If our guys are on a stop or our drug unit needs a dog, we have the K9. It's in our agency,” said McNeill.
In August, Boland will leave for the Southern Coast K9 training facility in New Smyrna Beach for a four-week training program. There, he will be paired with a K9 and taught how to work alongside the dog.
“There's a lot of guys at the agency who would love to be a K9 [handler], but Boland earned it. He earned it through his dedication of going out and raising those funds,” said Sheriff McNeill.
“I want the community to understand that 90 percent of this sits on him and what he was able to accomplish.”
The K9 will bring a massive benefit, both in providing a safety aspect for the community as well as helping the JCSO obtain more funding.
“On traffic stops and stuff like that, we can bring more income into the community by arresting drug dealers who have cash on them. We'll be able to seize that cash. When we are able to do that, we won't have to rely on the taxpayers as much. It will be an ease that we will be able to take off the tax burden,” said Boland.
Monies seized from drug dealers by the JCSO typically go towards obtaining new equipment for the department, and thus furthering the agency's ability to serve and protect the community to the best of their ability.
In situations that demand a K9, the agency will no longer have to wait for a Madison County, Taylor County or Florida Highway Patrol K9 to arrive on scene, if at all.
“We won't have to call out. We may call [another agency] and request a K9, and we may not get one. They may not have anyone out, they may not have one available; this will eliminate that,” said McNeill.
The JCSO is also looking towards the future.
This is one K9 with one handler, but in the future, McNeill says he is planning to bring in more dogs and their specially trained offices. Already, there are concepts in the works to bring in officers who are already trained handlers along with their dogs so that the JCSO can avoid the start-up cost of purchasing a dog.
Boland will return from training, with the JCSO's new K9 in late August.