OROVILLE – The Oroville City Council was treated to a dog and pony show, without the pony, at their Tuesday, Jan. 6 meeting as two county deputies displayed the skills of one of their K-9s and asked for help in obtaining another to be located in the north county area.
Deputies Terry Shrable and Shane Jones explained to the council that K-9 officers can be an important tool whether searching for narcotics or apprehending the bad guys.
“I’ve been in canines for 12 years and this is my third dog,” said Deputy Jones, who brought his dog Bosco, a Belgian Malinois, to show what trained dogs were capable of. “He’s imported from Holland and he’s the best of the best.”
Deputy Scrable is in the process of getting a dog to use, especially in the north end of the county, which has had a K-9 with the sheriff’s department located here since Deputy Kevin Kinman retired Jake a few years back.
“We’ve currently undertaken a county-wide funding effort and are actively pursuing donations from all members of the county that can benefit,” said Schrable, who added that he has had donations from municipalities, as well as local businesses.
He said the dogs would be invaluable in helping to search for suspects in burglaries like the ones that occurred recently in the Oroville area. He added that the dog would be available to aid the Oroville Police Department any time they gave him a call.
“Most departments have one dog, we have three and we are going to have four. This is the next step for me and my career,” said Shrable. “I know how frustrating it can be for me or Chief (Todd) Hill when we make a stop and we know there are drugs in that car and there isn’t a dog available. With a dog in the area we can change that.”
The deputies explained that the dogs won’t hit on marijuana, because it is legal in Washington State, they are very good at locating other drugs. Bosco demonstrated by locating some methamphetamine that had been hidden in the council chambers.
“We just had some major drugs found by a dog in the Methow. We got a lot of meth, a lot of heroin and a gun,” said Jones.
The K-9 cop also showed how he could be used to apprehend a suspect by biting down on his arm. This was demonstrated with Deputy Shrable wearing protective padding on his arm while the dog subdued him.
“He’s a very obedient dog… you can put him around kids and people and he won’t bite,” said Jones.
Shrable said that they had been asking for a donation of $1000 for the dog and training which costs $17,000.
“I’d appreciate your support and would consider it a privilege to work with you and your department,” said Shrable.
“I have no problem giving something, but $1000 is a lot of money,” said Councilman Jon Neal after the deputies had left.
Mayor Chuck Spieth asked if forfeited funds from drug crimes could be used toward the donation. The same funds were used recently to buy Tasers and towards the purchase of a patrol vehicle.
“Why don’t we research that and see if they can be used to help,” said Spieth.
Department Heads Announced
Mayor Spieth announced his appointment, in this case reappointment, of department heads for 2015. They are: Mick Howe, city attorney; Rod Noel, superintendent of public works and fire chief; JoAnn Denney, clerk/treasurer and public records officer; Todd Hill, police chief and Debra Donahue, EMS coordinator.