NEW POLICE DOG PATROLS SUMMIT COUNTY

SUMMIT COUNTY - A new Summit County Sheriff's Office law enforcer
worked his first shift on patrol this week, but you won't see this
newcomer in uniform or carrying a weapon.

Tommy is a 21-month-old Dutch Shepherd who came to Summit County from
Holland by way of Vohne Liche Kennels, an Indiana-based training camp
for working dogs.

He's named after County Commissioner Tom Long, a longtime friend of
Sheriff John Minor's.

"That's probably one of the better honors I've ever had," Long said
with a chuckle as he posed with his namesake for a photograph. Long
also helped bring the first working dog to Summit County in the early
1990s when he was the mayor of Silverthorne, and the Silverthorne
Police Department purchased a Malinois named Ace.

The Sheriff's Office hasn't had a K-9 unit in many years, and
currently the only police dog in the county is 12-year-old Digger,
whose handler Wendy Kipple is a sergeant with the Dillon Police
Department. Digger is retiring March 1.

Tommy's primary benefit will be helping the Sheriff's Office increase
its efficiency in the field, Minor said.

A trained police dog can search a large building for suspects in
about one-eighth the time it would take two police officers, can
quickly calm down an unruly crowd and can sniff out narcotics in one
sweep through a room.

"If we have a search warrant on a house and people have drugs stashed
in there, we don't have to go through all the drawers and everything
else, just have the dog run through and they'll hit on it," Minor
said. "... It's like having two cops for the price of one."

A classic example of when a police dog could have contributed to an
operation was the search for the "Mr. Magoo" bank robber who was
holed up in his parents' Blue River home in March 2005, Minor said.
The SWAT team apprehended the Denver criminal, who had attempted to
conceal himself in the cabin, but a dog could have either found him
more quickly or potentially scared the suspect out on his own.

"Sometimes just the psychological presence of a dog being there and
knowing what that dog can do will really (compel) cooperation," said
Tommy's handler, Deputy Brian Smith.

Minor selected Smith, a 7-year veteran of the Sheriff's Office, as
Tommy's handler after an internal application process. Smith stood
out for his desire to learn the handling skills and his commitment to
the new K-9 unit (Smith signed a 3-year contract with the Sheriff's
Office with his new position).

Smith was up for the challenge.

"The bond that you develop between the dog and everything else, and
the abilities that you can offer your department and your co-workers,
the types of things that you can do are just incredible," Smith said,
as he commanded Tommy in Dutch to stop chewing on his leather leash.

After he was selected as the handler, Smith paid for a weeklong trip
to the kennel in Indiana to pinpoint the perfect dog for Summit
County. All he knew is that the dog needed to have a little bit of
everything - be good with people and have a good command of tasks
like drug-finding and tracking.

Smith soon narrowed the choice to three breeds, but as a first time
handler, he didn't really know how to make the final decision.

"They basically said, 'Hey it's like Baskin Robbins, everybody's got
their own flavor, but we've got 31 of them. All of these dogs will do
well for you, but you've got to find the one that's right.' And they
said, 'You'll know your dog when you find him.'

"So I took Tommy for a walk, I took the other dogs for a walk and for
some reason Knucklehead-here and I clicked," Smith said.

Last month, he returned to Indiana for an intense 6-week training
course with Tommy, where the two logged 12- to 14-hour days running
obedience, tracking and obstacle drills or training in the classroom.

They returned to the county last weekend and worked their first shift
as a team on Tuesday night.

Tommy will live and work with Deputy Smith, but is the property of
the Sheriff's Office for his first five years of duty.

Deputy Smith and Tommy will be available to respond to calls all over
the county, and Tommy will begin training with the county's SWAT
team, of which Smith is a member.

The Sheriff's Office had been interested in starting a K-9 unit for
about a year, but was always stymied by funding.

Last year, the department opted to look outside its normal budgeting
process to make the K-9 unit a reality.

Its efforts culminated in a $5,000 grant from Wal-Mart and a $1,500
donation from the Masons, which helped defray the $11,000 pricetag to
purchase and train Tommy.

The Silverthorne Police Department donated the caging for Smith's
deputy car, which is worth about $3,500.

Minor said he is hoping to add a second dog to the K-9 unit in the future.