Toccoa To Work On Getting New Drug, Tracking K-9

The Toccoa Police Department is looking at getting a new drug detection and tracking dog.

Police Chief Tim Jarrell talked about it with city commissioners on Monday.

Jarrell said the police department would be well served to have a drug dog in the city.

“We have several times needed a tracking dog,” said Jarrell, who explained the wait is sometimes more than an hour right now.

According to Jarrell, Universal K-9 out of San Antonio, Texas is offering the police department a dog for free.

Jarrell said it is a pitbull that has been rescued.

He went on to say that while it may not be common for a pitbull to be used in this way, it has worked elsewhere.

“I was a little concerned about it at first, but after speaking with the gentleman and doing some research on it, he has over 20 dogs that are pitbulls that he has rescued from shelters that were about to be put down that are still young. One of them ended up in Georgia.”

According to Jarrell, that one in Georgia was taken out into the community to help break down barriers.

Jarrell said the police department would look at also taking the dog into the community as part of its duties.

While the dog would be free, the police department would have to pay about $3,000 for officer training.

Jarrell said that officer training is important to learn the dog.

“In the past, the drug dog we had was one that was an aggressive alert, basically meant that if they detected it, they would dig,” said Jarrell. “This one is passive alert, meaning he will just sit and look in the general area where the officer needs to look.”

Money for training will come out of the funds confiscated through drug operations.

City commissioners unanimously approved the police department working to obtain the dog at their business meeting on Monday.