FUTURE FUZZY FOR CANINE COPS

Suburban police departments are discovering that there's much more to
having a canine unit than simply buying a dog and letting him sniff.

There's the cost, which can be up to $50,000 for departments that are
starting from scratch. There's also the training--for the dog and the
police officer. And in many suburbs, there's the question of whether
the dog will have enough work to do.

Hanover Park's Police Department is the latest to ask its village
board for a police dog. One of the few towns left without a canine
unit, the northwest suburb has relied on Streamwood and other
neighboring villages whenever authorities have needed a dog's help.

A decade ago, only a few departments had canine units, and they were
sent to other suburbs when there was a need to search a building or
vehicle, or track a missing person.

Schaumburg police, one of the first in the area to have their own dog
unit, have helped neighboring towns for years.

"The dogs are invaluable when it comes to finding drugs," said Sgt.
Mike Bowden, who has worked with Schaumburg's police dog, Major, for
more than nine years. "Major has found drugs in places where I didn't
think there could possibly be drugs--stuffed up in dashboards, in a
hidden compartment under an armrest or behind a seat. It's something
we would never see, because it looks so plain and so much a part of
the car."

But these days, most towns have canine units of their own. Drug
detection is one reason, but police dogs greatly enhance an officer's
effectiveness in some situations.

"As soon as someone sees the dog, they do exactly what I tell them,"
Streamwood Officer Steven Lind said. Lind and his German shepherd,
Bismarck, make up the village's canine unit.

"It saves a lot of time. Searching a car--it would take us an hour or
two to meticulously go through it. It takes him 2 minutes," Lind said.
"He can take five steps into a front door of a big building and
immediately tell me if there's anyone in that building or not."

But as the number of canine units continues to grow, some say that
there's not enough work for all of the dogs to do.

"There are so many dogs now available that our neighboring towns look
forward to us calling them because the dogs need the work. They keep
fine-tuned doing the actual searches rather than staged ones," Mt.
Prospect police spokesman Bill Roscop said. His department relies on
dogs from Elk Grove Village, Schaumburg and Wheeling when searches are
needed--usually only once or twice a month.

Hanover Park Police Chief Ron Moser said his officers need a dog. They
ask help from other departments about once every 10 days, Moser said.
But he said his department would use a dog more often if the village
owned one.

"We have times when we could use it, but we don't always call," Moser
said.

In Hanover Park, police have asked the Village Board for $8,000 in the
May budget to purchase and train their first dog. That figure doesn't
include the cost of a sports-utility vehicle or customizing an old
squad car for the dog.

Though initial costs for training, maintenance and equipment for a
canine unit typically run around $33,000 and can reach $50,000,
villages have found funding sources other than local taxes. Dogs are
given as gifts to some departments, and food and veterinary services
often are donated. Elk Grove Village paid for its canine unit out of

drug-seizure funds.

In Streamwood, Lind worked with the village's Public Works Department
to design a special control console in his police car because Bismarck
repeatedly turned on the lights and siren in his excitement to follow
Lind out of the vehicle.

"Now he can come in and out without stepping on and breaking things,"
Lind said.

Those who do opt to sustain their own canine units find that it's not
always easy.

Working dogs are different from house pets and must be in top form at
all times. Although the dogs make the cut in a grueling 12-hour-a-day,
eight-week police training program, they still need weekly refreshers
to keep them in shape, and this takes up time for the officer and his
canine partner.

To get enough exercise, Bismarck often runs 5 miles on a treadmill
while Lind lifts weights.

And the job is not without its hazards. In a recent training exercise,
the dog bit through Lind's finger as he tried to remove a "drug" toy.

It's all part of the job, Lind said.

"Whenever this happens, it's always my fault, not his," Lind said. "I
put my hand there. It's what he was trained to do."