The Monroe Police Dog program has struggled for lack of funding recently, and so the local rotary club took on the challenge to raise money to supply the department with dogs and equipment in an effort they call the "K-9 Crusade." One Rotarian picked up the challenge in a big way; Tod Johnson, of Monroe's Speedway Chevrolet, along with Ken Wheadon, have pledged to donate a car to the department.

    The Monroe Rotary Club’s effort to fund the Monroe Police Department’s K-9 program got a big boost last week, with the announcement that Speedway Chevrolet will donate a car.
    ”It will probably be a late model Impala,” said Tod Johnson, who with Ken Wheadon of Speedway Chevrolet decided to donate the car. “That’s they type of car they are looking for, that they can easily convert to K-9 use.”
    The car will be will be outfitted with a cage in the back, rifle mounts, special temperature controls for the safety of the animals and more.
    The Monroe Rotary Club has undertaken a fundraising effort called the K-9 Crusade underway to help restore the city’s police dog program to fully-staffed.
    In 2008, the department had four police dogs, including two narcotics dogs and two trackers. One tracking dog, Biz, died recently. And both narcotics dogs are slated to retire.
    Replacing the animals is very expensive, not only because the dogs themselves are costly, but because officer training is time consuming, and because the equipment and cars associated with the program are expensive.
    The Rotary Club set a fundraising goal of $150,000 for the program. But with the donation of the car, that goal can be reduced.
    Before the car can be donated, the club will have to raise the funds to outfit it, though.
    It will need lights, sirens, rifle mounts, a cage, a computer and temperature controls, among other things.
    ”The equipment runs somewhere around $10,000,” said Commander Steve Clopp of the Monroe Police Department.
    The car comes at a good time; the department just acquired a replacement for one of the retiring narcotics dogs.
    The dog, a female German shepherd named Lexi, just completed training and is getting used to her new home in Monroe.
    Her handler is Nate Erdman. Right now, she is using a car ordinarily used by another dog that is working elsewhere at the moment.
    The new car is a surprising and welcome gift, said Clopp.
    ”It was a very generous donation, especially in lean economic times,” said Clopp.
    Times are lean, said Johnson, but they have improved enough lately to allow the business to do some community-minded things.
    ”For two years we had to give up a lot of that,” he said. “But sales, while they aren’t to the point they were before, they are to the point where we can get back to our priorities, and give back to our employees some of the things we had to take away, and give back to our community.”
    Johnson said he is glad to be able to help out with the K-9 Crusade.
    ”We’re excited to be a part of it,” he said.

 
by Polly Keary, Editor
(This article originally appeared in the Monroe Monitor & Valley News on April 27th, 2010)
(To visit the website the article appeared in, click here)

Tags: K-9